The Marzabotto massacre, or more correctly, the massacre of Monte Sole, was a World War II war crime consisting of the mass murder of at least 770 civilians by Nazi troops, which took place in the territory around the small village of

Marzabotto Marzabotto ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a small town and ''comune'' in Italian region Emilia-Romagna, part of the Metropolitan City of Bologna. It is located south-southwest of Bologna by rail, and lies in the valley of the Reno. The area inc ...

, in the mountainous area south of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. It was the largest massacre of civilians committed by the

Waffen SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from th ...

in western Europe during the war. It is also the deadliest mass shooting in the history of Italy.

Massacre

In reprisal for attacks on German soldiers by partisans and the Resistance between 29 September and 5 October 1944, SS-''

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War ...

'' Walter Reder led soldiers of the

16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS The 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Reichsführer-SS" (german: 16. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Reichsführer SS") was a motorised infantry formation in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. The division, during its time in It ...

to systematically kill hundreds of people in Marzabotto. They also killed numerous residents of the adjacent

Grizzana Morandi Grizzana Morandi (Bolognese dialect, Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italy, Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna. The town is summer holiday resort ...

and Monzuno, the area of the massif of Monte Sole (part of the Apennine range in the

province of Bologna The province of Bologna ( it, provincia di Bologna) was a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital was the city of Bologna. The province of Bologna covered an area of and had a total population of 1,004,323 inhabitan ...

Historians have struggled to document the number of victims. Some sources report up to 1,830 victims; others estimate 955 people killed. The Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole reports 770 victims. This number is close to the official report by ''Sturmbannführer'' Reder, who reported the "execution of 728 bandits". Among the victims, 155 were less than 10 years old, 95 were aged 10 to 16, 142 were over 60 years old, 454 were male and 316 were female. Five were priests. Giovanni Fornasini, a parish priest and member of the Resistance, risked his life to protect the population from the Nazis during the massacres. While Fornasini saved the lives of many of his parishioners and managed to escape immediate death, he was later discovered by an SS officer while he was burying the bodies of those killed in the massacre, which was forbidden by the Nazis. The officer accused him of crimes committed in the Marzabotto area. When Fornasini confessed to having helped the villagers avoid execution, the officer shot and killed him.

Justice

* The British tried SS General

Max Simon Max Simon (6 January 1899 – 1 February 1961) was a German SS commander and war criminal during World War II. Simon was one of the first members of the SS in the early 1930s. He rose through the ranks of the SS, and became a corps commander dur ...

for his part in the massacre. He was sentenced to death, later changed to life in prison. Simon was released in 1954 and died in 1961. * The Americans arrested SS Major Walter Reder, an Austrian national, in Salzburg, and passed him to the British. Reder was extradited to Italy in May 1948 to stand trial for war crimes. In 1951 he was tried in an Italian military court in Bologna. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison at Gaeta. He was released in 1985 and died six years later in 1991. * In 1998, on the 54th anniversary of the massacre, the German President

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician ( SPD). He was the president of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 20 September 1978 to 9 June 1998. In th ...

made a formal apology to Italy and expressed his "profound sorrow and shame" to the families of the victims of Marzabotto. * In January 2007, 10 of 17 suspected former SS members were found guilty ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

'' by an Italian

military tribunal Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bod ...

in the north Italian town of La Spezia. They were sentenced to life imprisonment for the massacre. The Italian media reported that the 10 were also ordered to pay roughly €100 million to the survivors and relatives of the victims. Seven suspects were acquitted.

Victims

* Giovanni Fornasini (1915-1944), priest, ''l'angelo di Marzabotto'',

Gold Medal of Military Valour The Gold Medal of Military Valour ( it, Medaglia d'oro al valor militare) is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The fac ...

, Servo di Dio * (1918-1944), priest, Servo di Dio

In popular culture

* The 1975 film ''

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' ( it, Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, billed on-screen ''Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom'' on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply ''Salò'' []) is a 1975 horror film, horror art film dir ...

'', which deals with themes of fascism and the abuse of power, is set in Marzabotto in the aftermath of the massacre. * ''The Man Who Will Come, L'uomo Che Verrà'' (2009) tells the story of the local Italian people, partisans and the Marzabotto Massacre. It has won numerous awards. It features Raffaele Zabban playing Don Giovanni Fornasini, and Germano Maccioni playing Don Ubaldo Marchioni.

References

Sources

* ''Marzabotto: The Crimes of Walter Reder - SS-Sturmbannführer,'' by Christian Ortner (

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, 1985) * ''Silence on Monte Sole,'' by

Jack Olsen Jack Olsen (June 7, 1925 – July 16, 2002) was an American journalist and author known for his crime reporting. Olsen was senior editor-in-chief for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' in 1954. He was Midwest bureau chief for ''Time'' and a senior ...

(New York City, 1968) * ''Don Giovanni Fornasini,'' Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia

External links

Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole
in Italian

in Italian
''The Man Who Will Come'' (''L'uomo Che Verra'')
{{Coord, 44, 18, 37, N, 11, 13, 11, E, type:landmark_region:IT, display=title Massacres in 1944 Massacres in the Italian Social Republic Collective punishment 1944 in Italy Mass murder in 1944 World War II massacres September 1944 events October 1944 events Waffen-SS