Prohibit Under All Circumstances
FLORENCE/DISTOMO/BERLIN (Own report) - The Appeals Court of Florence Italy has ruled that the claims of the victims of German Nazi criminals in Greece are enforceable. With this ruling the German state has to pay the more than 30 million Euros it owes the Greek plaintiffs. The amount of reparations can be immediately impounded, even though a similar levy of execution in Greece was rescinded due to political pressure. "We are very relieved that, after all these years of legal litigation, the Federal Republic of Germany must finally come clean," a family member of the 229 victims of Distomo told german-foreign-policy.com. The Greek village, Distomo was the scene of a massacre, perpetrated by the 4th SS police division in June 1944, that included women and children. For more than ten years, Berlin has been refusing to grant symbolic reparations to the survivors and family members of the victims. Berlin can appeal the execution of the sentence, which involves German state financial and non-financial assets located on Italian territory, albeit without much promise of success.
According to german-foreign-policy.com's information, the German foreign ministry is seeking a political solution and is attempting to postpone the course of justice through contacts in Rome. Preferential contact person is Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy. Five years ago, the victims of Distomo were denied their claims, through a political deal reached between Gerhard Schroeder (SPD), chancellor at the time, and his Greek colleague, Kostas Simitis, (PASOK).[1]
Stronger
In 2002 the Minister of Justice in Athens vacated a decision of the Greek Supreme Court. In this Supreme Court decision the claims were accorded the victims of Distomo and the way was cleared for impounding German property. But pressure from Berlin was stronger. The political cancellation of the Greek justice system saved the Goethe Institute in Athens - which had already been assessed - from being impounded as a pawn.
General Fate
Though the victims of Distomo sued in several appeals before German courts, they lost as was to be expected.[2] When finally the German Constitutional Court handed down its decision last year, it looked as though the foreign ministry's tactic of divesting itself of material responsibility for the heritage of the German Reich, was a success. According to its argumentation, the dead in Distomo, were victims of "a general, even if a harsh (...) fate of warfare" [3] - a deplorable circumstance but not one that calls for indemnification, according to the successor state of the SS murderers. The culprits of the 4th police division have lived in liberty since 1944 and hold reunions annually in Groebming, Austria.[4]
Turn
Berlin paid little attention to what was happening on the secondary scene - Italy, because the murders in Distomo appeared to remain permanently unreconciled. In Italy, Distomo victims were suing for enforceability of the Athenian court decisions, that, though politically rescinded by the Greek minister of Justice, were still fully legally binding. The basis for their suit before Italian courts is the binding EU law, permitting the exaction of claims, in any EU member state. The Florentine Appeals Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2004. Judging from reactions to this success of the persistent efforts of the victims in the foreign ministry, "no one in the German government had expected this turn," wrote a German government paper at the time.[5]
Enforceable
The Florentine court decision was followed by "one of the last official acts of the Green Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer. To prevent Germany having to pay reparations for the Waffen-SS massacre in Greece, the German government went on appeal" - exemplary for the culture of historical remembrance of the Schroeder/Fischer government, that also, on other occasions, has refused to pay reparations for historical debts.[6] But Berlin's possibilities to appeal are nearly exhausted. The Appeals Court of Florence has now thrown out Berlin's objections. The 30 million Euros reparations are immediately enforceable. As german-foreign-policy.com has learned in Florence, the German government will receive the written decision within the next few days.
International Crimes
Berlin still has the possibility of appeal, albeit with the probability of another defeat before the highest court in Rome. Already in advance, this court handed down a decision that German crimes of occupation in Europe were of such grievous and criminal ruthlessness, that it is out of the question that they constitute "a general (...) fate of warfare" [7] contrary to the allegations of the German Constitutional Court and SS criminals. According to this court decision Berlin is also wrong in claiming immunity of state and disputing the legality of civil suits. The court in Rome emphasizes that because of these "international crimes," German heirs of the Nazi government cannot claim "immunity".[8]
Best Contacts
In light of this perspective, Berlin is again attempting to neutralize the legal system of its former victimized state, through political intervention. The directorate of the foreign ministry is predestined for these efforts. In the person of Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German side is doted with a social democrat, who has encountered Distomo years ago. Steinmeier was the director of the Chancellor's Office in Berlin, as Chancellor Schroeder and the Greek Prime Minister Simitis agreed on a soundless termination of the preparations for seizures in Athens. The current German foreign minister can count on his best contacts in Rome and his social democrat friends in the Prodi group. The objective remains: "The execution of Greek claims via Italy must be prohibited under all circumstances."[9]
[1] see also Deutsche Pogrome (III)
[2] see also Berlin: Keine materielle Entschädigungspflicht für NS-Verbrechen, "Keine eigenen Erkenntnisse" and Europas Zukunft
[3] see also Schicksal
[4] Distomo; FAKT (ARD-MDR) 14.06.2002
[5] Distomo bleibt weiter ungesühnt; taz 13.10.2005
[6] see also Rechtsansprüche ausgeschlossen, Lebenslänglich, Vergessene Sklaven and Interview mit Enzo Orlanducci
[7] Cassazione, sezione unite n. 5044/04, depositata l'11.03.2004: "Tutto ciò conferma che la Repubblica Federale di Germania non ha il diritto di essere riconosciuta (...) immune dalla giurisdizione del giudice italiano, la cui giurisdizione deve essere quindi dichiarata."
[8] Cassazione, sezione unite n. 5044/04, depositata l'11.03.2004: "È ormai pacifico che, in presenza di crimini internazionali, l'immunità funzionale degli organi dello Stato estero non può essere invocata."
[9] Distomo bleibt weiter ungesühnt; taz 13.10.2005
