Families Seek Restitution

Emmi Aurich carries the pictures of her son Harald, and daughter in law everywhere she goes. They were just two of the victims on the gondola that crashed in the Italian Alps. Harald was a fun-loving man, she says-a devoted son and her means of support. "It was 12:30 at night when a female voice on the telephone told me, 'Frau Aurich your son and your daughter [in law], they are not alive anymore,'" she says. "This is when everything was finished for me."

Thirteen months after the accident, the United States has yet to settle a single financial claim from the families. Why? Because the Pentagon insists that under the NATO treaty, claims from the accident must be handled in Italy. The problem is legal experts believe that could take from two to 10 years. "It was an American pilot, under American orders," Aurich says. "I don't understand why they transfer responsibility."

Some senators, including Chuck Robb, D-Va., who has met many of the victim's families, believe the U.S. should pay some compensation immediately. They argue that the Pentagon may be legally right, but it's morally wrong. "And that's the reason we need to close it as quickly as possible," Robb says. "So that we can do justice for the families and justice for the United States."

Some German relatives who visited Washington last week grew up in communist East Germany. There, they heard stories of an America where compassion held sway over bureaucracy. Many say they are still searching for that place.