Germany takes Italy to court over Nazi war reparation claims

Germany has filed a case against Italy at the United Nations’ top court in a long-running dispute over World War II reparations. The International Court of Justice announced the filing late Friday.

The German case refers back to a previous ruling made by the UN court in 2012 in which it confirmed that Germany has legal immunity from being sued in foreign courts by victims of Nazi atrocities.

That ruling said that Italy’s supreme court violated Germany’s sovereignty in 2008 by judging that an Italian civilian was entitled to reparations for his deportation to Germany in 1944 to work as a slave laborer.

In its new case, Germany argues that despite that ruling, “Italian domestic courts, since 2012, have entertained a significant number of new claims against Germany in violation of Germany’s sovereign immunity.”

In the case that it won in 2012, Berlin argued that the Italian supreme court ruling threw into doubt a restitution system put in place after the Nazis’ defeat that has seen Germany pay tens of billions in reparations since the 1950s.

Germany argues it has already paid out billions of euros to countries impacted by World War II since the conflict ended in 1945.

Its filing cites a part of the 2012 ruling that says that, by allowing the claims in its courts, Italy had "violated its obligation to respect the immunity which the Federal Republic of Germany enjoys under international law".

It can take years for the ICJ to issue rulings, but Germany has asked the court to take measures to stop Italy auctioning off any property while its broader case is being considered.

The ICJ, based in The Hague, the Netherlands, is the principal judicial body of the UN, with one of its primary roles being the resolution of legal disputes between states.

The most pressing issue for Germany is a pending Italian court ruling on whether to force the sale of German-owned buildings.

The four properties include buildings in Rome that house the local offices of the German Archaeological Institute, the German Historical Institute, the cultural Goethe Institute and the German School of Rome.

Germany argues in its filing that "Italy has violated, and continues to violate, its obligation to respect Germany's sovereign immunity" by threatening to take the buildings to pay complaints filed by victims of Nazi crimes.

An Italian court said it would decide on May 25 whether to auction off the buildings.

Germany urged the ICJ to take measures to halt the auction of the properties while the larger case over WWII compensation claims is being considered.

No hearing has been scheduled, but one is expected within the next few weeks. Rulings in the ICJ typically take years to come through.