Compensation for Nazi victims: Germany sues Italy

Created: 04/30/2022Updated: 04/30/2022 2:17 p.m

The United Nations flag flies in the wind in front of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

© Mike Corder/AP/dpa

In 2012, the International Court of Justice ruled that Germany does not have to compensate Italian victims of National Socialism individually.

But Italy keeps allowing new procedures.

Now Germany is suing.

The Hague - Germany has filed a lawsuit against Italy before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the long-standing legal dispute over compensation for Nazi victims in World War II.

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The federal government is opposed to the fact that Italy continues to allow complaints by relatives of the victims of German war crimes for individual reparations, although the court has long since declared this inadmissible, as the court in The Hague announced.

Such a dispute in court between two such close partner countries is very unusual.

As early as 2012, the Court of Justice ruled that Germany does not have to compensate Italian victims of National Socialism individually and that corresponding Italian judgments are invalid.

With its lawsuit, Germany is now insisting that Italy recognize the principle of immunity of states in civil lawsuits in other states, which was established in the judgment ten years ago.

The German Wehrmacht and the SS had raged in many places during their retreat from Italy during World War II.

Many Italians were also murdered.

dpa