Greece on Wednesday said it would begin proceedings against Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a bid to obtain compensation for the slaughter of hundreds of people from the town of Distomo during World War II, reported dpa.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said he tabled the issue during a government cabinet meeting.
Distomo, located in central Greece, was the scene of a massacre in 1944 when 218 people, including women and children, were executed as part of Nazi reprisals for the activity of partisans in the area.
More than 30,000 civilians fell victim to Nazi atrocities in Greece during the war and a total of 460 villages were wiped out.
Courts in Greece and Italy have previously ruled in favour of relatives of the victims of the Distomo massacre.
But the German state has appealed requests for compensation at the ICJ, a UN court based in The Hague tasked with settling legal disputes between states.