Did you know that 15,000 Italian civilians, were massacred in 400 separate slaughters throughout Italy by German troops as the allies advanced during WWII??

Let me repeat that!!!!! 15,000 Italian non combatant, not partisans, were SLAUGHTERED in 400 seperate MASSACRES!!!!

Today's article in the Gaurdian deals with evidence that had been "secreted", and has been newly discovered, that proves 560 Italian civilians,  80% of whom were women, children and elderly people, were massacred in Sant'Anna di Stazzema,
in northern Tuscany in 1944.

Of those 400 "other" Massacres, the more familiar are Monte Sole (1830 victims) Marzabotto,in the province of Bologna (800), Bardine San Terenzo (369), Via Rasella- Ardeatine caves, south of Rome, (335), Avanzi , Boves ,Ovaro, Bretto, Villadeati, and SO many others.

Once again, these are CIVILIANS, not Military, (Cefalonia, Kos, Corfu) or Partisans!!!

FIFTEEN THOUSAND Italians in FOUR HUNDRED different MASSACRES!!!!
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ITALY TO TRY THREE FORMER NAZIS

A cupboard found in Rome containing 600 witness statements will provide key evidence as ex-SS are tried for the massacre of 560 in Tuscany.

The Guardian
Sophie Arie in Rome
Wednesday January 14, 2004

The surprise discovery of what has become known as the "cupboard of shame" has led an Italian court to put three German ex-SS officers on trial for their part in the massacre of 560 Italians in a Tuscan village in August 1944.

For decades the killings which took place as the Germans retreated from advancing allied forces were not investigated. But in 1994 a journalist stumbled across a cupboard in the basement of the headquarters of the military prosecutor's office in Rome.

It was sealed and turned towards the wall. There were more than 600 files inside, including reports and witness statements collected by British and American troops as they advanced through Italy in 1944, discovering piles of dead people in scores of villages.

Bureaucracy and the lengthy process of investigating crimes committed two generations earlier have meant it has taken almost a decade for the first cases to come to court. "They just buried the evidence like ostriches putting their heads in the sand," said a source close to the trial.

"The files were hidden during the cold war. You can imagine why. Germany was an ally of Nato. It was decided to keep these things secret."

The three suspects are all living in Germany and it is not yet clear if they can be extradited for the trial. Reports said yesterday that continuing investigations in Germany might mean the men cannot be extradited.

Investigators said that Gerhard Sommer, 83, Alfred Schonenberg, 83, and Ludwig Sonntag, 80, all face charges of massacring the civilians at Sant'Anna di Stazzema on August 12 1944 at the trial to take place in La Spezia, northern Italy, on April 20.

As British troops liberated Florence some 300 of Hitler's elite and most fanatical SS troops surrounded Sant'Anna di Stazzema, in northern Tuscany, which was crowded with refugees. They claimed to be hunting for partisans but instead rounded up all the villagers they could find - 80% of whom were women, children and elderly people - and began shooting them, according to witnesses.

"What happened in Stazzema was a calculated massacre," said Marco De Paolis, military prosecutor in charge of the case.

"Those who ordered it knew they were giving criminal orders," he told the newspaper La Repubblica.

The trial is a landmark for Italian justice which for decades failed to investigate the death of around 15,000 civilians, killed in around 400 separate slaughters throughout Italy by German troops as the allies advanced.

The Sant'Anna di Stazzema is one of the biggest single massacres recorded in northern Italy, as German troops retreated along the so-called Gothic line, which crossed Italy from La Spezia on the Tyrrhenian coast to Pesaro on the Adriatic sea. Some 800 people are thought to have also been killed at Marzabotto, in the province of Bologna.

"This is not a witch hunt," said Gianpiero Lorenzoni, mayor of Sant'Anna. "60 years softens your need for revenge. But the search for the truth never stops, even if you get tired. Families will get some satisfaction if the men who ordered this are finally brought to justice."

"We have suffered over the years because no one has been brought to justice for this," said Enio Mancini, who escaped the massacre but lost his entire family.

Mr Sommer is reportedly among 12 former members of the SS Panzergrenadier Division being investigated in Germany. Two other ex-SS officers, Werner Bruss and Georg Rauch, were found not to have a case to answer in court, the investigator said. A sixth suspect, Heinrich Schendel, would be subject to further inquiries.

Italy was spurred to reopen investigations of Nazi crimes in 1996, when a military court found former SS captain Erich Priebke guilty of involvement in the slaughter of 335 men and boys at the Ardeatine caves south of Rome. But he was released under the statute of limitations. After public outrage Italy's highest court of appeal ordered a retrial. Priebke was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998, and he is serving out his sentence under house arrest.

A parliamentary commission was set up last year to investigate how the Italian government hid the massacre files for half a century.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Italy to try three former Nazis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1122701,00.html