Arrr! Aye, me hearties! 'Tis a tale of Italian kinfolk reclaimin' treasure from them scurvy Nazis who hanged their kin in Fornelli, 80 years hence!
2023-09-03
Arr, ye scurvy dogs! The scallywags from Fornelli, Italy, whose ancestors met a grisly end at the hands of them Nazi scoundrels in '43, be finally gettin' their just desserts! A hefty bounty o' 12 million euros shall be divided among 'em, aye! Avast, justice be served!
In a surprising turn of events, Italy will pay a total of €12 million in reparations to the families of six civilians who were hanged by German Nazis during World War II. The civilians were executed in Fornelli, a town in southern Italy, for killing a soldier who was searching for food. The reparations were awarded by an Italian court to compensate for the families' trauma.Despite the historical responsibility lying with Germany, Italy will be responsible for the payment after losing a legal battle in the International Court. While Jewish Italian organizations believe Germany should pay, groups representing the victims feel that Rome is taking too long to process the claims, which could result in costly settlements.
The descendants of the hanged civilians from Fornelli are expected to be the first beneficiaries of a new government fund created to handle these types of claims. In 1962, Italy and Germany entered a deal where Germany paid €40 million Deutsche Marks, which today would amount to €1 billion euros, to cover damages caused by Nazis on Italians. However, while Italy provided pensions to politically or racially persecuted individuals and their descendants, reparations for war crimes were never paid.
The Fornelli lawsuit, initiated in 2015 against both Germany and Italy, attempted to halt the proceedings but was unsuccessful. Despite Germany winning their case in the International Court of Justice in 2012, Italian courts continued to hear compensation cases, arguing that there should be no limit on war crime reparations.
Although the funds set aside for reparations amount to €61 million, lawyers anticipate that this may not be enough to cover the expected payouts. The first payments are expected to be made to the people of Fornelli by January, with the locals emphasizing that the case is about justice rather than money.