Post-WWII Greek-German ties in shipping explored in new book

A photograph taken in late March 1953 shows Aristotle Onassis and West Germany's then minister of finance, Ludwig Erhard, just before the launch of the Olympic Cloud tanker, the first ship built by AG Weser in Bremen after World War II. Greece and Germany had been enemies just a few years earlier, with the latter having destroyed three-quarters of the former's fleet and dealing the country's economy a catastrophic blow.

Greece in the early 50s was a country decimated by war and civil strife, struggling to heal its wounds. So how did the Greek business community manage to build a new and solid relationship between two peoples who had been separated by so much hate? The answer is interesting and it can be found in a new richly illustrated book published by Argo and titled "The Sea Unites," written by George M. Foustanos, founder of online maritime museum the Greek Shipping...