Italian Court Awards Reparations to Relatives of Civilians Hanged by Nazis During World War II
Nearly 80 years after German Nazis launched a violent occupation against their former ally Italy, some of the relatives of six civilians who were hanged by Nazis in Fornelli, southern Italy, will receive a portion of 12 million euros in reparations. The families of the victims have been awarded the settlement for the trauma they endured, according to an Italian court ruling.
The six civilians were executed in 1943 for killing a soldier who was foraging for food. Mauro Petrarca, the great-grandson of one of the victims, emphasized that the event has not been forgotten and is still commemorated every year.
Although the German government was expected to pay the reparations, Italy will be responsible for the settlement money after losing a legal battle in the International Court over whether Germany could be held liable for damages related to World War II crimes.
While Jewish Italian organizations argue that Germany should bear historical responsibility and pay the reparations, groups representing the victims believe that Rome is intentionally delaying the resolution of the claims, potentially leading to higher costs.
A 2016 German government-funded study revealed that 22,000 Italians, including up to 8,000 Jewish people who were sent to death camps, were victims of Nazi war crimes. Additionally, thousands of Italians were forced into slave labor in Germany, making them eligible for reparations.
Descendants of the six Catholic men who were hanged in Fornelli are expected to be the first to benefit from a new government fund established to address these claims. Italy and Germany had previously reached an agreement in 1962, where Germany paid 40 million Deutsche Marks (equivalent to 1 billion euros today) to cover damages caused by Nazis in Italy. However, reparations for war crimes were not provided.
Lucio Olivieri, an attorney involved in the Fornelli litigation, highlighted the mistake of not considering war crimes at the time, stating that they might have believed that everyone had committed war crimes, not just Germany. However, in 1994, files documenting numerous unprosecuted war crimes were discovered in a military prosecutor’s office in Rome, prompting Italy to seek justice. Nevertheless, Germany claimed that the 1962 agreement protected them from further claims and refused to pay.
After Germany won its case in the International Court of Justice in 2012, Italian courts continued to hear compensation cases, asserting that no limit could be imposed on war crimes. The Fornelli lawsuit, initiated in 2015 against Germany and Italy, aimed to halt the proceedings but failed.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi established a fund in April 2022 to cover the rising costs associated with compensation as more cases were being brought to court. The Italian Treasury received 1,228 legal suits by the June 28 deadline.
Multiple plaintiffs are expected to be involved in each suit, and lawyers predict that the allotted 61 million euros for reparations may not be sufficient to cover the anticipated payouts. The first payments, according to a government decree issued in July, are scheduled to be made to the residents of Fornelli by January. The people of Fornelli emphasize that the case is not about money but rather about achieving justice for a war crime.
(Reuters contributed to this report)