German Crimes and Italian Money? Observations on the Sad Saga of Compensation to the Victims of Nazi Atrocities in Italy

On 29 June 2022, the Italian Parliament approved Law no. 79, which converted — with amendments — Article 43 of Decree-Law no. 36/2022 of 30 April 2022 into law, possibly marking the final stage of the long saga of the German–Italian dispute over Germany’s civil liability for Nazi crimes against the Italian population during World War II. The Decree-Law was originally issued, as a matter of urgency, with a specific purpose: the Italian government intended to prevent the Federal Republic of Germany from suffering the loss of a significant real estate asset, located in Rome, due to the execution proceedings before the Court of Rome. However, the purpose of this legislative measure was not solely to avert this scenario in the short term. On the contrary, with the Decree-Law, now converted into law, the singular result has been reached that the Italian state will pay all compensation owed to victims of Nazi massacres on behalf of Germany. The article contextualizes the new provision, analysing the saga of Germany’s civil liability in parallel with the criminal prosecutions of Nazi criminals in Italy, both after the war and in more recent years. It provides critical evaluations and proposes hypotheses on possible future scenarios.