Almost 80 years after the German Nazis began the violent occupation of their former ally Italy, some of the relatives of six civilians hanged on a hill for killing a soldier searching for food will receive part of 12 million euros in reparations .
The six civilians were executed in Fornelli, southern Italy, and reparations for the families’ trauma were awarded by an Italian court.
“We still celebrate this event every year. It has not been forgotten,” said Mauro Petrarca, the great-grandson of one of those killed.
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Residents in Fornelli, Italy, descendants of those hanged by the Nazis in 1943, are to receive reparations. (Portal/Crispian Balmer)
Petrarch’s great-grandfather, Domenico Lancellotta, was a 52-year-old Roman Catholic father of five daughters and a son when the Nazis killed him.
However, Portal reported that Italy will not pay Germany, but will pay the settlement money after losing a dispute at the International Court of Justice over whether Berlin can still be held liable for damages related to World War II crimes.
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While Italian Jewish organizations believe Berlin should pay out of historical responsibility, groups representing victims believe Rome is taking its time sorting through claims that could prove expensive.
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Part of 12 million euros in reparations will be paid to the relatives of six civilians hanged by Nazis on a hill in Fornelli, Italy, in 1943 for killing a soldier while he was searching for food. (Portal/Crispian Balmer)
“This is a very sensitive issue, both from a political and legal perspective,” said Giulio Disegni. Disegni is vice president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), which is pursuing the issue on behalf of Jewish victims of Nazi atrocities.
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A German government-funded study published in 2016 reported that 22,000 Italians were victims of Nazi war crimes, including up to 8,000 Jews who were sent to death camps.
The Nazis also reportedly forced thousands more Italians to work as forced laborers in Germany, making them eligible for reparations.
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The descendants of the six hanged Fornelli Catholic men are set to be the first to benefit from a new government fund set up to process the claims.
Back in 1962, Germany and Italy made a deal in which Germany paid 40 million German marks, equivalent to one billion euros today, to cover damages the Nazis inflicted on the Italians.
Although Italy granted pensions to politically or racially persecuted people and their descendants, no reparations were paid for war crimes.
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Lucio Olivieri, a lawyer who led the Fornelli litigation, told Portal war crimes had not been investigated, which was a mistake.
“Maybe at the time they thought everyone had committed war crimes, not just Germany, and didn’t want to go down that path,” he said.
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But then in 1994, files documenting hundreds of war crimes that were never prosecuted were discovered in a closet in a military prosecutor’s office in Rome.
When Italy was discovered, it attempted to bring the Nazis to justice for their involvement in the massacres, but Germany refused to pay, arguing that the 1962 agreement protected them from further claims.
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Germany won its case at the International Court of Justice in 2012, although damages cases continued to be heard in Italian courts, arguing that there were no limits to war crimes.
The Fornelli lawsuit, opened in 2015, was filed against Germany and Italy. The lawsuit attempted to stop the proceedings, but failed.
“I found it astonishing that Italy sided with Germany in the case against us,” Petrarch told Portal. “It was like they were (war) allies again.”
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Then-Prime Minister Mario Draghi set up a fund in April 2022 as more and more cases ended up in court. The money should be set aside to cover the increasing costs associated with compensation.
Anyone who wanted to assert a legal claim had until June 28th to do so. Italy’s finance ministry told Portal it had received 1,228 lawsuits by the deadline.
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Each lawsuit is likely to involve multiple plaintiffs, and lawyers say the €61 million set aside for reparations may not be enough to cover the expected payouts.
In July, a government decree was issued stating that the first payments to Fornelli locals should be made by January. Fornelli residents insist the case was not about cash but rather about justice for a war crime.
Portal contributed to this report.