Families of Italian victims of Nazi crime to finally get compensation, after 80 years

Some relatives of the six Italian civilians who were hanged by occupying German soldiers during Second World War are set to get share of 12 million euros (USD 13 million) 80years after the incident. The civilians were hanged as a collective punishment for killing of a soldier who was foraging for food.

The compensation has been awarded by an Italian court for the families' trauma.

"We still mark the event every year. It hasn't been forgotten," said Mauro Petrarca, the great-grandson of one of those killed, Domenico Lancellotta, a 52-year-old Roman Catholic father of five daughters and a son.

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All but one of the family members alive at the time of the killings are now dead. However, under Italian law, damages owed can still be passed on to the heirs. This means that Petrarca will receive about 130,000 euros (USD 142,000) under the terms of the court ruling which came in 2020.

The compensation would, however, be paid by Italy and not Germany as Italy has lost a battle in International Court of Justice over whether Germany could still be held liable for damages related to World War Two crimes and atrocities.

Jewish organisations in Italy have opined in past that Germany should pay to fulfill its historic responsibility. Victims groups also fear that Italy is dragging its feet while dealing with deluge of compensation claims that could eventually be burdensome to state accounts.

"This is a very tormented issue, both from a political and a legal perspective," said Giulio Disegni, the vice president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), which has been following the issue on behalf of Jewish victims of Nazi horrors.

German government funded a study, published in 2016, which estimated that 22,000 Italians were victims of Nazi war crimes. These included up to 8000 Jews who were deported to death camps. Thousands of more people in Italy were forced to work as enslaved labourers in Germany.

The six men were hanged in Italian village of Fornelli. Their descendents are likely to be first to be benefitted from the new government fund set up to deal with compensation claims.

The killing of the six men came a month after Italy signed armistice with the Allied forces thus ending their participation in the World War. This meant that Italy's alliance with the Nazis was at an end. Nazi forces then began to occupy Italy.

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