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 of Monte Sole.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mattarella said memory requires
responsibility.
"We are here to bow our heads together in front of so many lives
that were cruelly broken, to fill with the most intense feelings
of solidarity those voids that inhuman Nazi-Fascist savagery
opened in these lands, in these communities.
"We are here to remember, because memory implies responsibility.
"During World War II, we touched the bottom of the abyss", he
said.
Mattarella stressed that "nearly 800 victims were killed between
September 29 and October 5 1944, in the municipalities of
Marzabotto, Monzuno and Grizzane Morandi.
"Nearly 200 children were killed.
"Marzabotto and Monte Sole are among the most shocking symbols
of the strategy of annihilation that accompanied the will to
dominate, the racial myth, the nationalist oppression" that
"drove Nazism - and its accomplices, including the Fascist
regime - to pursue the catastrophic project to conquer Europe
and empty it of its history", the president noted.
Mattarella said that, "today, ongoing conflicts, the sites of
suffering where international humanitarian law is not
implemented, brusquely remind us of the responsibility of being
neither blind, nor asleep, nor without memory".
"We must never forget, even if we have a hard time
understanding", he noted.
The Italian head of State went on to say that "Marzabotto and
Monte Sole are milestones of the Italian Republic.
"Eighty years since those tragic days, we feel more clearly that
Marzabotto and Monte Sole are symbol and foundation of the
entire Europe, evidence of our common fate which, together, over
the past few days, in Berlin as well as in Bonn and Koln, we
have confirmed we want to choose", he said, referring to his
fist State visit to Germany.
And German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked for
forgiveness on behalf of his country for the the Nazi massacre.
"On behalf of my country, today I ask for forgiveness",
Steinmeier said.
"Dear families, dear descendants, the fact that I can talk to
you today is possible only because you have all granted us
Germans reconciliation - what a precious gift", noted the
president. Recalling "those days of fall of 1944", the German
president said the SS "killed as if they were thirsty with
blood", noting they showed "no pity, no humanity" not even
towards "women, priests, elderly men, and not even for children,
so many children" saying the days of the massacre were "five
days from hell".
He went on to say that remembrance was very important "also
because we are experiencing a moment in which, in my country as
well, we are seeing a resurgence of nationalist and far-right
forces.
"This concerns me.
"But it also gives me determination", he stressed.
Survivors and family members also spoke at the commemoration.
"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".
"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 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.
The Italian and German 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.
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