Nazi Massacres and Divided Memory

Abstract

On thousands of occasions between 1943 and 1945, Italian villages and cities were forced to mourn their victims, after massacres carried out by the German army. The modus operandi was often the same. German soldiers would arrive early in the morning, round up all the men they could find, and shoot them. The bodies were often burnt. Massacres took different forms—some were clearly reprisals for partisan attack (with the choice of a specific number of victims), others were intimidatory massacres of entire populations (and not just men, but also women and children), while there were also brutal round-ups of partisans followed by summary executions. Some massacres had straightforward military objectives—partisans. Others—the majority—looked to intimidate and terrify the entire population, and were part of a war against civilians. Italy’s decision to break the alliance with Germany in September 1943 also had an impact, as the idea that the Italians were traitors held sway in the German army.

Unfortunately, the Resistance was not entirely made up of well organised, well studied, well carried out actions. That attack was a mistake.

—Edoardo Succhielli, partisan leader, Civitella in Val di Chiana

The literature about massacres in Italy is vast, with a large number of texts being produced over the last twenty years. Here is a selection of texts that I have used in this work (with a particular focus on memory): Klinkhammer 2006; Contini 2007: Pezzino 2007; Baldissara and Pezzino 2005; Schreiber 2000, 2004; Gribaudi, ed., 2003; Fulvetti and Pelini, eds., 2006; Paggi, ed., 1996; Pezzino 1997 (new edition 2007); Portelli 1999; Paggi, ed., 1997; Paggi, ed., 1999; Forti 1998; Cappelletto 2005; De Simonis 2004; Matta, ed., 1996; Battini and Pezzino 1997; Clemente and Dei 2005; Todorov 2003; Rovatti 2004.