Relatives closer to Nazi massacre reparations
The relatives of some of the 218 men and women killed by German soldiers in the village of Distomo, north of Athens, during the Second World War have had a significant breakthrough in their attempt to gain compensation from the German state. An appeals court in Florence, Italy, has ruled that the families of the victims should be awarded a villa in Menaggio, near Lake Como, which is owned by a German government nonprofit organization, by way of restitution, thereby rejecting an appeal by the Germans against an initial ruling. A court in Greece ruled in 1997 that the relatives should be awarded compensation worth some 50 million euros. A new trial is set to begin in Italy in April next year to decide whether the villa should be used as collateral in a compensation package for the Distomo relatives.
