What is the "punishment clause" in the Treaty of Versailles?

Actually, Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles
read:

The
Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the responsibility of
Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and
Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the
war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her
allies.'

This was not
completely true, of course, as there was plenty of guilt to share on both sides. The
Allies relied on this clause to impose harsh reparation demands on Germany, so high that
the entire amount was seven times the entire net worth of Germany. The French even
calculated the possible pension of the youngest soldier who fought in the war and added
that to the tab. It was this clause, and the reparations which followed, which gave
Hitler a platform to attack the Treaty as unfair to Germany--which it was, in
reality.