A former German soldier is on trial in Munich for Nazi-era atrocities.
Josef Scheungraber, now 90, is charged with having ordered the murders of 14
villagers in June 1944 as a reprisal for partisans killing
two of his men. Scheungraber was sentenced to life in prison
by an Italian court in 2006, but since Germany does not
extradite its citizens, a trial was initiated in Munich
in September.
A witness in one of the last trials
related to Nazi-era atrocities told the Munich court on
Oct. 23 that his fellow German soldiers balked at massacring
Italian villagers in Falzano, Tuscany, but followed orders.
The next court date is Nov. 13.
Allegedly under Scheungraber's
command, four civilians were shot before Battalion 818
of the German Army mountain combat engineers was ordered
to blow up a barn in which 11 other civilians had been
confined. Only Gino Massetti, now 79, survived the explosion
and fire, and he testified on Oct. 7 that former Wehrmacht
officers called to testify have failed to recall details
about the incident, according to news reports.
The latest witness, an 84-year-old
former engineer with the battalion, said he did not know
who had ordered the massacre. He only knew that he and
his fellow soldiers were reluctant to carry out the orders.
In September, Scheungraber's attorney
told the court that the accused -- who lives today in Ottobrunn,
Bavaria -- had not known about the massacre when it happened.
In other news, Germany has rejected
the verdict of a court in Rome demanding payment of personal
damages for Nazi-era crimes against humanity. According
to the German Press Agency, the court found on Oct. 21
that nine Italian families should receive $1.3 million
in compensation for family members murdered in a Nazi massacre
in June 1944 of 203 civilians in the northern Italian town
of Civitella.
The German foreign ministry said
the day after the ruling that financial compensation had
been taken care of through a 1961 treaty.
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