San Martino di Lupari massacre

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The massacre of San Martino di Lupari was a final phase crime committed by parts of the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division on their retreat on April 29, 1945 from Sant'Anna Morosina to San Martino di Lupari near Padua in the Italian Veneto . On their way to retreat, the division not only fought with allies and partisans , but also took hostages , murdered 125 of them, tortured them, and committed looting and destruction.

prehistory

After the Allied landings in Sicily ( Operation Husky ), the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division, under the command of Lieutenant General Fritz Polack, defended the northern route to Messina and served on the Italian front from July 1943 to May 1945 .

On the north-eastern front of Italy, the majority of the German troops south of the Po were largely crushed by April 23, 1945 . German troops tried to get to the north and to do this they first had to cross the Po. On their flight they were often fought by partisans and the approaching Allied troops.

procedure

Initially, the retreating troops of the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division arrested numerous men from the age of 16 as hostages in Sant'Anna Morosona and the surrounding area. They also used these as protective shields and this method they used on their further retreat. The German troops were shot at in Abbazia Pisani , whereupon they killed eight hostages, but some were also released. When they reached Maglio di San Martino di Lupari, there was a fight and houses went up in flames. Once in the center of San Martino di Lupari, the Germans had 60 hostages in custody when they were attacked again. They then killed two of the oldest hostages in the town square. They arrested other hostages and continued to move towards Castello di Godego , using constant violence against hostages and passers-by. In this place, the hostage group consisted of 80 men. Six hostages were shot, and then another 40 hostages were ordered to run away. All were shot "on the run". Another 20 hostages were shot in the same way. At the end of the massacre, several young people between the ages of 15 and 16 were shot.

Prosecution

The military prosecutor of Padua investigated after documents were found in the cabinet of shame in 1960 against Lieutenant General Polack and other German military personnel. No charges were brought; Polack had died in 1956. The investigation ended on July 5, 1995.

Victim

In this case it is difficult to determine or assign the exact number of victims. It is generally assumed that there were 125 victims.

Commemoration

In San Martino di Lupari a memorial plaque on the facade of the mayor's office and in the district of Maglio / Borghetto commemorates the victims.

A memorial to the victims has been erected on Via Risale in Abbazia Pisani.

In the Alberone district of Castello di Godego there is a memorial for the victims near their place of execution.

literature

  • Friedrich Andrae: Also against women and children: the war of the German armed forces against the civilian population in Italy 1943–1945 . Piper, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-492-03698-8 .
  • Carlo Gentile : Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945. Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . (Cologne, Univ., Diss., 2008.)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carlo Gentile : Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945 . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . P. 198
  2. ^ Carlo Gentile: Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945 . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . P. 199/200
  3. ↑ a b San Martino di Lupari (April 29, 1944) , (Italian), on Straginazifasciste. Retrieved November 8, 2019
  4. ↑ San Martino di Lupari , on Memorials Europe 1939–1949, accessed on November 8, 2019

Coordinates: 45 ° 39 ′ 0 ″  N , 11 ° 51 ′ 0 ″  E