Eugenio Calò (July 2, 1906 – July 14, 1944) was an Italian Jewish resistance fighter during World War II. Born in
Pisa
Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
to an old
Sephardi
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
family, he was posthumously awarded the
Gold Medal for Military Valour, Italy's highest honor for
heroism
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake of ...
. Eugenio Calò was an
Italian partisan
The Italian Resistance ( ), or simply ''La'' , consisted of all the Italy, Italian Resistance during World War II, resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic ...
, second in command of the ''Pio Borri'' partisan division that fought the
Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
in the
Casentino
The Casentino is the valley in which the first tract of the river Arno flows to Subbiano, Italy.
It is one of the four valleys (alongside Valdarno, Valdichiana, and Valtiberina) in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from w ...
mountains in
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
. As a Jewish victim of
fascist Italy
Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Calò had lost his workshop, his home, and his family. Finally, at the age of 38, he was captured, tortured and murdered by the Germans.
German occupation
After the
German invasion in 1943, the anti-Semitic persecutions increased. The Fascists and the Germans began arresting the Jews and sending them to
concentration camps
A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...
. When Calò had learned about the capture of his family and the fact that they had been kept in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
's Le Murate prison, he tried to organize their escape. His efforts were in vain. In May 1944 they were all deported to a concentration camp in Fossoli, and on the 16th of that month were sent on a transport to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
. His wife Carolina Lombroso gave birth to their fourth son while on the train. His family was killed by the Germans immediately upon arriving at Auschwitz.
Two months later, Calò and his fellow partisans captured a group of some thirty German soldiers. Acting on his
moral authority
Moral authority is authority premised on principles, or fundamental truths, which are independent of written, or positive laws. As such, moral authority necessitates the existence of and adherence to truth. Because truth does not change the princip ...
as commander and as a human being, Calò opposed his fellow partisans who asked for a summary trial and execution of the prisoners. Instead, he insisted on treating the German soldiers as
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
. He volunteered to take the prisoners across German lines, and extradite them to the hands of the
allied forces. The Germans soldiers were notorious for their revenge and reprisal
massacres
A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians en masse by an armed group or person.
The word is a loan of a French term for "b ...
of the civilian population. It was quite obvious to the partisans that if captured with German prisoners, they would be tortured and killed along with some innocent villagers. On July 2, 1944, the prisoners were transferred by Calò and other partisans - among them, Angelo Recapito and Luigi Valentini – to the Allied Headquarters in
Cortona
Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.
Toponymy
Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan language, Etr ...
across the frontline.
General
Mark Clark, commander of the
US Fifth Army
The United States Army North (ARNORTH) is a formation of the United States Army. An Army Service Component Command (ASCC) subordinate to United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), ARNORTH is the joint force land component of NORTHCOM. , asked for two volunteers who would take messages back to the partisans in order to coordinate their activities towards the liberation of the city of
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...
which was planned for July 14. Calò and Angelo Recapito volunteered to go back and deliver the message. They succeeded in their mission and rejoined their friends, but were captured on July 14 along with a group of civilians and other partisans at Molin dei Falchi, where they had intended to spend the night with some more German prisoners. One of the German prisoners had managed to escape and informed the German Army and some Italian
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
collaborators of the camp's existence. The Germans attacked and there was a fierce battle in which many partisans died. The survivors were transferred to the village of San Polo di Arezzo where all the men of the village were collected as well for the reprisal action. The captured partisans were brutally tortured and murdered.
San Polo massacre
After September 8, 1943, the German invasion army was ordered by the highest authorities not to obey the
Geneva Convention
upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...
nor normal rules of war, and to show no mercy towards the civilian population. The high German command promised to give complete protection against all accusations of brutality. A specific order was issued to torture and kill everyone found with weapons and to terrorize the unarmed civilian population. For every German killed, ten Italian civilians were to be killed.
As per these commands, all the men of San Polo were gathered and brought to Villa Mancini where the German officers were quartered. There, the partisans were brutally beaten with rubber hoses and tortured. Eugenio Calò and Angelo Recapito, who both had information pertaining to the Allied forces' military plans, maintained their silence. At the end of the day, the partisans, wounded and barely alive, along with the captured men of the village — forty-eight in all — were taken to a nearby field on the backyard of Villa Gigliosi that the German soldiers had requisitioned. The civilians were made to dig three pit graves and were then thrown in still alive. The partisans were placed in the pits with their heads above ground and with explosive charges attached to their bodies. They were then blown apart. The Germans did not allow anyone to bury the dead.
Gold medal for military valour
Calò had spared the lives of some thirty captured German soldiers and insisted on acting in a humane way, even though his own family (his wife Carolina
Lombroso, daughter Elena and sons Renzo and Albertino) had been captured and sent to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
only a couple of months earlier.
For his military activities against the Germans as a member of the
Italian resistance movement
The Italian Resistance ( ), or simply ''La'' , consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy ...
, for his contribution as second in command of the ''Pio Borri'' partisan division that patrolled the Casentino mountains in Tuscany, for his bravery, and for his humanity, Eugenio Calò was awarded in 1947 the highest honor for military heroism in Italy, the "Gold Medal for Military Valour".
Remembering Eugenio Calò
The San Polo massacre is commemorated every year, as is the liberation of Arezzo on July 16, 1944. The local religious, civilian and military authorities participate in the ceremony.
There are streets in
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...
and
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
bearing the names of Eugenio Calò and Angelo Recapito and in the town of
Quarata, near Arezzo, there is a school named after him.
The county of Reggello named the Cascia square in memory of Carolina Lombroso Calò, In May 2016 a plaque commemorating her memory and her deportation and murder in Auschwitz with her children, was set in the square.
San Polo trials
Former NSDAP member Herbert Handsk, who took part in the San Polo massacre, was released from prison in 2007 by the Italian justice. Aged 87, he was the only survivor of the perpetrators of the massacre.
Klaus Konrad had died on August 15, 2006. He had also been indicted by the magistrates in the same trial. Konrad, who became after the war a deputy of the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
from 1969 to 1980 as a member of
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...
's
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...
, had already been indicted by the Italian justice in 1967 and 1972, but the complaints had been classified.
[ AGI, ''La strage nazista di San Polo - il tribunale militare di la spezia assolve Handsk'', 27 February 2007 ]
Footnotes
See also
*
Military history of Italy during World War II
The participation of Italy in the Second World War was characterized by a complex framework of ideology, politics, and diplomacy, while its military actions were often heavily influenced by external factors. Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Ital ...
*
History of the Jews in Italy
The history of the Jews in Italy spans more than two thousand years to the present. The Jewish presence in Italy dates to the pre-Christian Roman period and has continued, despite periods of extreme persecution and expulsions, until the prese ...
*The
British Eighth Army
The Eighth Army was a field army of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed as the Western Army on 10 September 1941, in Egypt, before being renamed the Army of the Nile and then the Eighth Army on 26 September. It was cr ...
who liberated Arezzo on July 16, 1944
*The
US Fifth Army
The United States Army North (ARNORTH) is a formation of the United States Army. An Army Service Component Command (ASCC) subordinate to United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), ARNORTH is the joint force land component of NORTHCOM. that coordinated with the partisans at Cortona
*
de:Klaus Konrad
References and bibliography
* ''Original research by Eugenio Calo's nephew Tullio Sonnino and Shmulik Suhami.''
*''Fuochi sui Monti dell'Appennino Toscano'':Antonio Curina ; D. Badiali, Arezzo 1957.
*''Arezzo distrutta 1943-44'': Enzo Droandi ; Calosci editore, Cortona, 1995.
External links
A short movie about Eugenio Calò(in Hebrew and Italian)
The city of Reggello web page regarding the unveiling of a "Commemoration plate" in memory of Eugenio Calo's wife and children. (Italian)In memory of Carolina Lombroso Calo, Eugenio Calo's wife, and their children. In front of the house in Cascia di Reggello where they were arrested and deported, to be murdered in Auschwitz.
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060307125936/http://www.qdg.org.uk/pages/WW2-Part-6-112.php War diary of the ''King's Dragoon Guards'' who entered the village of San Polo on the morning of the 18thabout Eugenio Calo at the National Partisans Association of Italy web site (Italian)* See Pages of Testimony at the
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
site abou
Eugenio Caloand his three children
an
(As described above, the fourth child was born on the train during the 3 weeks transport to Auschwitz and therefore his name was never recorded).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calo, Eugenio
1906 births
1943 deaths
People from Pisa
Italian Sephardi Jews
Italian Jews who died in the Holocaust
Italian resistance movement members
Jews in the Italian resistance
Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany
People executed by Nazi Germany occupation forces
Deaths by explosive device
Italian people executed by Nazi Germany
Jews in the Yugoslav Partisans
Yugoslav Partisans members