President Karolos Papoulias yesterday laid a wreath in front of a memorial plaque in the village of Hortiati, near Thessaloniki, during a ceremony to commemorate the massacre of 149 Greeks by Nazi troops in 1944. The troops killed the villagers to scare them into turning against resistance fighters who had killed a German soldier. Papoulias expressed his support for attempts by bereaved families to seek compensation from the German government. ‘It is right to raise the question of damages,’ he said. ‘The German government should actively demonstrate its aversion to these Nazi monstrosities,’ he added.