Marzabotto massacre
Remains of the church of San Martino di Monte Sole
Location	Marzabotto, Italy
Date	29 September – 5 October 1944
Target	Italian civilians
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	~ 770
Perpetrators	16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS

TheMarzabotto massacre (inItalianstrage di Marzabotto, "Marzabotto slaughter"), or more correctly, themassacre of Monte Sole, was a World War II war crime consisting of the mass murder of at least 770 civilians byNazi troops, which took place in the territory around the small village ofMarzabotto, in the mountainous area south ofBologna. It was the largest massacre of civilians committed by theWaffen SS in western Europe during the war.^[1] It is also thedeadliest mass shooting in the history of Italy.

In reprisal for attacks on German soldiers bypartisans and theResistance between 29 September and 5 October 1944, SS-SturmbannführerWalter Reder led soldiers of the16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS to systematically kill hundreds of people in Marzabotto. They also killed numerous residents of the adjacentGrizzana Morandi andMonzuno communes, the area of the massif of Monte Sole (part of theApennine range in theprovince of Bologna).

Historians have struggled to document the number of victims. Some sources report up to 1,830 victims; others estimate 955 people killed. The Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole reports 770 victims. This number is close to the official report bySturmbannführer Reder, who reported the "execution of 728 bandits". Among the victims, 155 were less than 10 years old, 95 were aged 10 to 16, 142 were over 60 years old, 454 were male and 316 were female. Five were priests.^[2]

Giovanni Fornasini, a parish priest and member of the Resistance, risked his life to protect the population from the Nazis during the massacres. While Fornasini saved the lives of many of his parishioners and managed to escape immediate death, he was later discovered by an SS officer while he was burying the bodies of those killed in the massacre, which was forbidden by the Nazis. The officer accused him of crimes committed in the Marzabotto area. When Fornasini confessed to having helped the villagers avoid execution, the officer shot and killed him.

• The British tried SS GeneralMax Simon for his part in the massacre. He was sentenced to death, later changed to life in prison. Simon was released in 1954 and died in 1961.
• The Americans arrested SS MajorWalter Reder, an Austrian national, in Salzburg, and handed him over to the British. Reder was extradited to Italy in May 1948 to stand trial for war crimes. 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.
• In 1998, on the 54th anniversary of the massacre, the German PresidentJohannes Rau 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 guiltyin absentia by an Italianmilitary tribunal in the north Italian town ofLa Spezia. They were sentenced tolife imprisonment for the massacre. The Italian media reported that the 10 were also ordered to pay roughly €100 million to the survivors and relatives of the victims. Seven suspects were acquitted.^[3]

• Giovanni Fornasini (1915–1944), priest,Gold Medal of Military Valour,Servo di Dio
• Ubaldo Marchioni [it] (1918–1944), priest

• The 1975 filmSalò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, which deals with philosophical themes aboutfascism,consumerism and the abuse of power, features a scene where hostages in a fascist convoy drives through Marzabotto as one hostage tries to escape. The scene was not shot in the real Marzabotto location.
• The Man Who Will Come (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, and Germano Maccioni playing Don Ubaldo Marchioni.

• Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre
• Lidice
• Kľak
• Oradour-sur-Glane massacre
• Ochota massacre
• Khatyn massacre
• Italian Campaign (World War II)
• List of massacres in Italy
• German war crimes

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMarzabotto massacre.

• Marzabotto: The Crimes of Walter Reder - SS-Sturmbannführer, by Christian Ortner (Vienna, 1985)
• Silence on Monte Sole, byJack Olsen (New York City, 1968)ISBN 0-213-17794-3
• Don Giovanni Fornasini, Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia

• Carlo Gentile."Monte Sole".ns-taeter-italien.org. Retrieved18 July 2024.
• Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole, in Italian
• Monte Sole Park, in Italian
• Massacres and Atrocities of World War II
• The Man Who Will Come (L'uomo Che Verra)

44°18′37″N11°13′11″E / 44.31028°N 11.21972°E /44.31028; 11.21972

• 1944 in Italy
• Collective punishment
• Massacres in 1944
• Massacres in the Italian Social Republic
• Massacres committed by Nazi Germany
• October 1944 in Europe
• September 1944 in Europe
• War crimes of the Waffen-SS

• CS1 Italian-language sources (it)
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2024
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata