Nazi massacre: Sant’Anna di Stazzema. Around 7:00 a.m., four SS squads, approximately 200 men, surrounded the village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema, in the province of Lucca, in a pincer movement. At the first signs of the Germans’ arrival, the men of military age fled into the woods, fearing a roundup. The SS instead engaged in indiscriminate massacres, primarily targeting the elderly, women, and children: official figures put the number at 560, but according to more recent reconstructions, the number is perhaps closer to 400. The bodies were set on fire to make identification difficult and to ensure certainty of death. The most reliable studies have labeled the massacre a “massacre for the control of the territory.” The main perpetrator was SS Major Walter Reder, tried in 1951 in Bologna and sentenced to life imprisonment, but later pardoned and released on January 24, 1985, despite the repeated opposition of the victims’ families. More recent studies have shown that the V and VII SS companies (perhaps even the entire II Battalion of the XVI SS Division) were present on the site. The active presence of Italians during the initial phases of the search has also been demonstrated.
