Nearly 80 years after the German Nazis initiated a violent occupation against Italy, the relatives of six civilians who were hanged by the Nazis in Fornelli, Italy, for killing a soldier foraging for food will receive a portion of €12 million in reparations. An Italian court awarded the reparations to compensate the families for their trauma. Mauro Petrarca, the great-grandson of one of the victims, expressed that the event is still remembered and holds significance for the families involved.
Instead of Germany paying for the reparations, Italy will be providing the settlement money after losing a legal battle in the International Court. Jewish Italian organizations argue that Germany should take historical responsibility and pay for the damages tied to World War II crimes. However, victim advocacy groups believe that Rome is taking its time to process the claims, as they could result in significant costs.
A study funded by the German government in 2016 revealed that 22,000 Italians were victims of Nazi war crimes, including up to 8,000 Jewish individuals who were sent to death camps. The Nazis also forced thousands of Italians to work as slave laborers in Germany, making them eligible for reparations.
Descendants of the six Catholic men hanged in Fornelli are expected to be the first to benefit from a new government fund established to address these claims. While Germany previously paid $40 million Deutsche Marks to Italy in 1962 to cover damages caused by the Nazis, reparations for war crimes were not provided. Lucio Olivieri, an attorney involved in the Fornelli litigation, emphasized that war crimes were overlooked in the past but have now come to light.
After the discovery of files documenting hundreds of unprosecuted war crimes in 1994, Italy attempted to bring Nazis to trial for their role in the massacres. However, Germany argued that the 1962 deal protected them against further claims and refused to pay. Germany ultimately won its case in the International Court of Justice in 2012, but Italian courts continued to hear compensation cases, asserting that no limit could be imposed on war crimes.
In 2015, the Fornelli lawsuit was filed against Germany and Italy. Although attempts were made to halt the proceedings, they were unsuccessful. The Italian prime minister at the time, Mario Draghi, established a fund in April 2022 to cover the rising costs of compensation as more cases reached the courts. The deadline for submitting legal claims was June 28, and the Italian Treasury has received 1,228 lawsuits as of that date.
It is likely that multiple plaintiffs will be involved in each lawsuit, and legal experts believe that the allocated €61 million may be insufficient to cover the expected payouts. A government decree issued in July stated that the first payments should be made to Fornelli locals by January. The people of Fornelli emphasize that the case is about justice for a war crime, rather than purely financial compensation.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
