The San Terenzo Monti massacre (), sometimes also referred to as the Bardine massacre or Bardine San Terenzo massacre, was a massacre carried out near
Fivizzano
Fivizzano is a ''comune'' in the province of Massa and Carrara, Tuscany, central Italy.
History
It became part of the Republic of Florence in the 15th century thus gaining the Tuscan republic an important foothold in Lunigiana, a key region whi ...
,
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
, by the German
16th SS Panzergrenadier Division from 17 to 19 August 1944 in which 159 Italian civilians were killed.
It was one of numerous war crimes the division was involved in while stationed in Italy during the war.
Massacre
In August 1944 partisan activity in the rear of the German front line, the
Gothic Line
The Gothic Line (; ) was a German and Italian defensive line of the Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of the Apennine Mountains du ...
, increased. On the morning of 17 August, a detachment consisting of German troops on trucks arrived in the hamlet of Bardine, about two kilometres from San Terenzo Monti to confiscate livestock. On their return trip the German troops were attacked by partisans, at the request of the inhabitants of Bardine. In the ensuring fight with the partisans, 16 German soldiers were killed.
German troops soon returned to the area to recover their dead and destroy local villages as well as kill a number of civilians, while beginning to plan a larger operation in the area. On 19 August German troops, commanded by
Walter Reder
Walter Reder (4 February 1915 – 26 April 1991) was an Austrian SS commander and war criminal during World War II. He served with the SS Division Totenkopf and the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, SS Division Reichsführer-SS. H ...
, returned with 53 civilian prisoners captured a week earlier and executed them at the location of the previous partisan attack. They then proceeded to round up the local population, mostly women, children and elderly, and executed them as well. A total of 159 civilians were killed in the operation, regardless of whether they had any involvement with the partisan movement.
Aftermath
In 1951 Walter Reder (1915–1991) was sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court in
Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
for the massacres of
Vinca
''Vinca'' (; Latin: ''vincire'' "to bind, fetter") is an Old World genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus '' Catharanthus'' (and with the mollusc '' Littorina littorea'') ...
and
Marzabotto
Marzabotto ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a small town and ''comune'' in Italian region Emilia-Romagna, part of the Metropolitan City of Bologna. It is located south-southwest of Bologna by rail, and lies in the valley of the Reno. The area in ...
. In 1985 Reder was granted amnesty and was released.
In popular culture
In 2018 the joint Italian-German documentary ''The name of the father'' () was produced. It tells the story of the son of Josef Maier, Udo Surer, a German lawyer from Bavaria, who discovered in 2004 that his father was involved in the San Terenzo Monti and
Vinca massacre
The Vinca massacre () was a massacre carried out near Fivizzano, Tuscany, by the German 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division from 24 to 27 August 1944 in which 162 Italian civilians were killed.
It was one of many war crimes the division was involve ...
s.
References
Further reading
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External links
*
Regione Toscana – The Vinca massacre
{{Nazi war crimes in Italy
1944 crimes in Italy
August 1944 in Europe
Massacres in 1944
Massacres in the Italian Social Republic
Tuscany
War crimes of the Waffen-SS