Marzabotto massacre
Encyclopedia
The Marzabotto massacre was a World War II
mass murder
of at least 770 civilians by Germans, which took place in the territory around the small village of Marzabotto
, in the mountainous area south of Bologna
. It was the worst massacre
of civilian
s committed by the Waffen SS in Italy
during the war.
and the Resistance
between September 29 and October 5, 1944, SS-Sturmbannführer
Walter Reder
led soldiers of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16
to systematically kill hundreds of people in Marzabotto. They also killed numerous residents of the adjacent Grizzana Morandi
and Monzuno
, the area of the massif of Monte Sole (part of the Apennine
range in the province of Bologna
).
Historians have struggled to document the number of victims: some sources report up to 1,830 victims; others estimate 955 people killed. Today, 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, 45 were less than 2-years-old, 110 were less than 10-years-old, 95 were less than 16-years-old, 142 were over 60-years-old, 316 were females and five were Catholic priests.
Don Giovanni Fornasini, a parish priest and member of the Resistance, risked his life to protect the defenseless population from the Nazis during the massacres. By his courageous actions, Fornasini saved the lives of many of his parishioners, and managed to escape death. As he was burying the bodies of those killed in the massacre, which was forbidden by the Nazis, Fornasini was discovered by an SS officer. The officer accused Don Fornasini of crimes committed in the Marzabotto area. When Fornasini confessed to having helped the villagers avoid execution, the officer shot and killed him.
On October 18, 1998, Cardinal Biffi opened in Bologna the process for the beatification
of Don Fornasini and two other priests (Ferdinando Casagrande and Ubaldo Marchioni), considered the "martyr
s of Sonnenberg". Today Don Fornasini is remembered as "the angel of Marzabotto". A memorial commemorates him in the cemetery of San Martino di Caprara, together with four other priests killed by the SS in the area.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
of at least 770 civilians by Germans, which took place in the territory around the small village of Marzabotto
Marzabotto
Marzabotto is a small town and comune in Italian region Emilia-Romagna, part of the province of Bologna. It is located 27 km SSW of Bologna by rail, and lies in the valley of the Reno...
, in the mountainous area south of Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. It was the worst massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
of civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s committed by the Waffen SS in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
during the war.
Massacre
In reprisal for the local support given to the partisansPartisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
and the Resistance
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...
between September 29 and October 5, 1944, SS-Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Walter Reder
Walter Reder
SS-Sturmbannführer Walter Reder was a German Waffen-SS officer who served with the 3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf and the 16.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Reichsführer-SS. He was a Knight's Cross and German Cross in Gold winner...
led soldiers of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16
16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS
The 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS was a Panzergrenadier formation of the Waffen-SS during World War II.-History:Formed in November 1943 when Volksdeutsche recruits were added to the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS, which was used as the cadre in the formation of the new division...
to systematically kill hundreds of people in Marzabotto. They also killed numerous residents of the adjacent Grizzana Morandi
Grizzana Morandi
Grizzana Morandi is a comune in the Province of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 30 km southwest of Bologna...
and Monzuno
Monzuno
Monzuno is an Italian comune in the province of Bologna .The territory of the commune is loctaed on the western slope of the Savena valley, on the northern ridge of Monte Venere and on the left side of the Setta and Sambro streams....
, the area of the massif of Monte Sole (part of the Apennine
Apennine mountains
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains or Greek oros but just as often used alone as a noun. The ancient Greeks and Romans typically but not always used "mountain" in the singular to mean one or a range; thus, "the Apennine mountain" refers to the entire chain and is translated "the Apennine...
range in the province of Bologna
Province of Bologna
The Province of Bologna is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bologna.-Geography:It has an area of 3,702 km², and a total population of 991,647 . There are 60 comuni in the province, see Comuni of the Province of Bologna...
).
Historians have struggled to document the number of victims: some sources report up to 1,830 victims; others estimate 955 people killed. Today, 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, 45 were less than 2-years-old, 110 were less than 10-years-old, 95 were less than 16-years-old, 142 were over 60-years-old, 316 were females and five were Catholic priests.
Don Giovanni Fornasini, a parish priest and member of the Resistance, risked his life to protect the defenseless population from the Nazis during the massacres. By his courageous actions, Fornasini saved the lives of many of his parishioners, and managed to escape death. As he was burying the bodies of those killed in the massacre, which was forbidden by the Nazis, Fornasini was discovered by an SS officer. The officer accused Don Fornasini of crimes committed in the Marzabotto area. When Fornasini confessed to having helped the villagers avoid execution, the officer shot and killed him.
On October 18, 1998, Cardinal Biffi opened in Bologna the process for the beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
of Don Fornasini and two other priests (Ferdinando Casagrande and Ubaldo Marchioni), considered the "martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s of Sonnenberg". Today Don Fornasini is remembered as "the angel of Marzabotto". A memorial commemorates him in the cemetery of San Martino di Caprara, together with four other priests killed by the SS in the area.
Justice
- The Americans arrested SS Major Walter Reder, an Austrian national, in Salzburg, and passed him to the Italians via the British. 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.
- 1998, on the 54th anniversary of the massacre, the German President Johannes RauJohannes RauJohannes Rau was a German politician of the SPD. He was President of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004, and Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.-Education and work:...
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 absentiaIn absentiaIn absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
by an Italian military tribunalMilitary tribunalA military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors...
in the north Italian town of La SpeziaLa SpeziaLa Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
. They were sentenced to life imprisonmentLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for the massacre. The Italian media reported that the 10 were also ordered to pay roughly €EuroThe euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
100 million to the survivors and relatives of the victims. Seven suspects were acquittedAcquittalIn the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
.
In popular culture
- 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.
See also
- List of massacres in Italy
- Italian Campaign (World War II)Italian Campaign (World War II)The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
- Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacreSant'Anna di Stazzema massacreThe Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre was a Nazi German atrocity in the village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy, in the course of an operation against the Italian resistance movement in 1944, during the Italian Campaign of World War II.-Facts:...
- Ochota massacreOchota massacreOchota Massacre - a wave of mass murders, robbery, looting, arson, and rape, which swept across the Warsaw district Ochota during August 4–25, 1944. The gravest crimes were committed in Ochota hospitals, in the Radium Institute, Kolonia Staszica and the concentration camp called "Zieleniak"...
Sources
- Marzabotto: The Crimes of Walter Reder - SS-Sturmbannführer, by Christian Ortner (ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, 1985) - Silence on Monte Sole, by Jack OlsenJack OlsenJack Olsen was an American journalist and author known for his thorough, scholarly approach to crime reporting. Olsen was Senior Editor and Chief for the Sun-Times in Chicago Illinois in 1954...
(New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, 1968) ISBN 0-213-17794-3 - Don Giovanni Fornasini, Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia