In 1944, in the town of San Polo in Arezzo, Tuscany, 61 civilians including, women, children, and a pregnant woman were massacred, some execution style, some buried alive, and others were blown apart with explosives. Many were tortured before they were killed.

San Polo, Arezzo joins  Monte Sole (1830), Marzabotto (1690), Sant'Anna di Stazzema (560), Bardine San Terenzo (369) Ardeatine Caves (335) Civitella della Chiana (168), Meleto (94), Valdarno, Niccoleta (82), Vaccareccia (70) among the 20,000 Victims of 700+ Nazi Massacres in I943-44-45 in WWII.

To this day war historians firmly believe The Italian Campaign was unnecessary for the Allies, and DISASTROUS for Italy, and the Surrender of Italy was bungled, allowing the Nazis to seize northern Italy, while the Allies dawdled over surrender conditions, resulting in unnecessary horrendous death and property destruction.
 

London Guardian
John Hooper in Rome and Luke Harding in Berlin
Friday October 29, 2004

A prominent left-wing German politician faces charges of mass murder for his alleged role in one of Italy's most gruesome wartime atrocities.

Military prosecutors in La Spezia have sent a formal caution to 89-year-old Klaus Konrad, a former Social Democrat MP and legal adviser to Willy Brandt, a former German chancellor.

The caution, a copy of which has been seen by the Guardian, warns Mr Konrad that he is formally under investigation on suspicion of causing the deaths of 61 people "needlessly and without a justified motive".

The prosecutors accuse him of taking part in a string of massacres in 1944 near the Tuscan city of Arezzo. They say some of the victims were buried alive and others were blown apart with explosives. Many were tortured before they were killed. The dead included children and women, one of whom was pregnant.

In an interview to be televised last night by the ARD, the German public broadcast system, Mr Konrad admitted only to having been present when the civilians were tortured. He expressed regret for the killings but said he had done so "only since the Italians have got me by the scruff of the neck". ARD said its researchers had found British files containing accounts by witnesses who said Mr Konrad had personally supervised the executions that followed the torture.

The massacres were among many carried out by the German army as troops retreated along the Italian peninsula in an effort to crush or punish partisan resistance. Details of the killings remained hidden for half a century because the Italian authorities were keen not to damage relations with federal Germany during the cold war.

In 1944, Mr Konrad was a second lieutenant in a grenadiers unit, the 274th regiment, but, according to the Italian daily paper Corriere della Sera, he was no ordinary soldier. The paper says that, by the age of 19, he had become a member of the Nazi party's brown-shirted storm troops, the SA.

After the war, Mr Konrad joined West Germany's centre-left Social Democrat party. He rose to become, first, a regional MP for the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, and then a member of the federal parliament.

The notification sent to his seaside home says he is under formal investigation on two counts of mass murder and one of unnecessarily torching civilian homes. The first set of 13 killings occurred in and near the village of San Polo. The remaining 48 people all died in San Polo.

In the interview due to be screened last night, Mr Konrad said the commander of his battalion, Wolf Ewert, ordered him to interrogate 50 or so suspected partisans left in a cellar. The Italian military prosecutors said these people were beaten with "staves, rubber hoses and rifle butts" before being taken to another house nearby for execution.

Mr Konrad admitted the Italians were tortured and told his commander that the prisoners were partisans. But he said it was Ewert who gave the execution order. Agreeing with the decision, he and two other German officers sat down to discuss the "modalities" of how the captives should be killed.

ARD quoted witnesses saying that six men belonging to a partisan group were shot first. Sixteen prisoners in a second group were dumped in a grave at right angles to each other and buried in sand. Some are thought to have suffocated.

In last night's interview Mr Konrad admitted the people were also blown up with explosives to prevent the allies, then closing in rapidly on the German frontline, from discovering what had taken place. In Italy, he was reported as telling his interviewers: "Someone had the idea of blowing them up with dynamite to hide the traces of torture."

In 1967, German prosecutors in Giessen began an investigation into the San Polo massacre, charging Mr Konrad, and his wartime commander and five other officers, with murder.

In 1972, however, a court found there was no proof of murder, only of manslaughter. Under German law the charge of manslaughter had expired and the case against Mr Konrad was dropped.

After retiring as a backbench MP, he continued his political career at local level. He now lives in Scharbeutz, north-east of Hamburg. Ewert died 10 years ago.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | German politician faces new charges over massacre in Italy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/
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