Mattarella, Steinmeier commemorate Marzabotto massacre

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 29 - The presidents of Italy and Germany, Sergio Mattarella and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Sunday attended an 80th anniversary service at the scene of the worst Nazi atrocity in WWII at Marzabotto in the Bolognese Appenines when Waffen SS troops killed at least 770 Italian civilians in the small village from September 29 to October 5 1944.
    It was the largest massacre of civilians committed by the Waffen SS in western Europe during the war and the deadliest mass shooting in the history of Italy.
    The two presidents laid a wreath of flowers to commemorate the fallen at the little San Martino Church at Monte Sole.
    "Thanks for coming here today and for honouring our dear ones who aren't here anymore", said Anna Rona Nannetti, one of the survivors of the massacre, who welcomed Mattarella and Steinmeier.
    The German president responded thanking her and attendees for "your generosity and your welcome".
    The two presidents were accompanied to Monte Sole by Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
    The Italian head of State is visiting the location for the second time: in 1992, after he had just been re-elected to the Lower House, he was the official speaker during the commemoration of the 48th anniversary of the massacre.
    The last time an Italian president paid a visit to the location together with a German president was in 2002, when then-German head of State Johannes Rau went to Monte Sole with then-president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on the eve of Italy's Liberation Day on April 25.
    "From my grandfather Augusto Marchioni, who lost two children and his wife here at Monte Sole, I have learned the value of forgiveness", said Pietro Marchioni, who also lost another relative in the massacre, Ubaldo Marchioni, one of the priests killed by the SS troops at the age of 26, for whom a canonization process is ongoing at the Vatican. (ANSA).