Monte Sole Historical Park / Peace School of Monte Sole

Parco Storico di Monte Sole / Scuola di Pace di Monte Sole

Between 1943 and 1945, German and Italian troops murdered a total of 955 partisans and civilians in various raids and »reprisal measures« in the area of the Monte Sole massif. The »Monte Sole Historical Park« has commemorated the victims since 1989. In 2002, the »Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole« began operating at the site. It is both a meeting centre and a place of civic education.

History

Monte Sole is a massif about 20 kilometres south of Bologna. It is surrounded by a rural area, which today covers the communities of Marzabotto, Monzuno and Grizzana Moranti. In the summer of 1944, after the nearby »Gothic Line«, the German line of defence, had collapsed, the front line passed through the region of Monte Sole. The Italian communist partisan brigade »Stella Rossa« (English: Red Star) was active here. German units and Italian fascist militia carried out targeted terror operations in the region, also against the civilian population.
In September 1944, the commander of the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division, Lieutenant General Max Simon, ordered a military operation in the region of Monte Sole with the aim of »exterminating partisan groups« and »cleanse enemy grounds«. This was undertaken between September 29 and October 5, 1944, under the command of Major Walter Reder, at a time when the front was only a few kilometres away from Monte Sole. The entire area was surrounded by about 1,000 soldiers and systematically searched. Among the soldiers were members of the SS and the Wehrmacht as well as members of the republican National Guard, the paramilitary militia of the fascist »Italian Social Republic«.
The troops were particularly brutal in their conduct, setting fire to houses, schools and churches, and killing civilians with great cruelty. Most of those murdered were women, children and elderly people. Many of the small homesteads and villages which once characterised the region are until today depopulated as a result of the terror.

Monte Sole, 2000, Ruins of the Cerpiano Oratorium, Parco Storico di Monte Sole

Monte Sole, 2000, Ruins of the village of Caprara, Parco Storico di Monte Sole

Victims

In all, 955 people were murdered by German troops and Italian fascist militia in the communities of Marzabotto, Monzuno and Grizzana Moranti, across which the »Monte Sole Historical Park« now stretches. Between September 29 and October 5, 1944, 770 people were killed, among them 216 children, 316 women and 142 elderly people over sixty. The raids and »reprisal measures« took place in at least 115 villages, most of which are until this day in ruins.

In 1922 the Kingdom of Italy became a dictatorship under the »Duce« (leader) Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) and his fascist party. Until the mid-1930s there was barely any evidence of public anti-semitism in Italy; discriminatory measures were not introduced until 1938. At the time, around 46,000 Jews were living in Italy. During this period, the Italian state also included the Istrian peninsula and a number of islands that are now part of Greece, such as Rhodes, which had a Jewish community rich in tradition. The Italian government was a close ally of the German Reich but was not involved in the mass deportations of Jews to German extermination camps until autumn 1943. It was only following the occupation of the north of the country by the German Wehrmacht (the south had already been liberated by American and British troops) that the German SS and police began to implement plans to systematically deport the Italian Jews. The Jews were initially held in detention camps and then transported halfway across Europe to Auschwitz, where many were killed in the gas chambers on arrival. Between 7,000 and 8,500 Jews from Italy (excluding Italian-occupied territory) were murdered or died as a result of brutality. Tens of thousands of Italian Jews and Jewish refugees were able to survive by emigrating or going into hiding with the help of non-Jews. The Allied liberation of southern Italy spared over 2,000 Jews from deportation by the German regime. The period 1943 to 1945 saw violent conflicts between the German occupation forces and Italian partisans from the communist-dominated resistance movement »Resistenza«. German troops responded with horrific reprisal measures and massacres, for example in Marzabotto and in the Ardeatine Caves near Rome. More than 400,000 Italians – soldiers, civilians and partisans – died during the Second World War. Once the war was over, the partisan campaign became a key feature of Italian national identity and the Italian culture of memory cultivated the myth that the country had liberated itself from fascism. There was barely any confrontation with the widespread Italian support for Mussolini. The best-known sites of memory such as the former concentration camp at Risiera di San Sabba near Trieste or the memorials at Marzabotto and the Ardeatine Caves are dedicated to the resistance, as are many museums. However, there are few memorial sites at former detention camps for Jews and where these do exist they tend to commemorate the liberators rather than the victims. One example is Villa Emma in Nonatola, where Jewish children were able to survive in hiding. One feature linking many of these sites is their focus on human rights education for the present and future. In recent years, the memory of the deported and murdered Jews has become more prominent. In 2013, the Memoriale de la Shoah di Milano opened in Milan’s central railway station, and in 2023, the decision has been made to create a central holocaust memorial in Rome.

Remembrance

After the war, Max Simon was sentenced to death in Italy. However, the sentence was not carried out and Simon was pardoned already in 1954. Walter Reder was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1951. He was released from prison in 1985, after which he returned to his native Austria.
In 1989, the region of Emilia-Romagna established the »Monte Sole Historical Park«. In 2002, the »Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole« was founded in the centre of the historical park. The park covers almost the entire area of the Monte Sole massif, which was depopulated as a result of the targeted killings. Today, over half of the park area is covered in forest, the other parts contain fields, pastures and farms. Many traces of the murder operations are still visible, such as the ruins of the village Caprara or the church of Casaglia, once the religious and cultural centre of the region and where many civilians sought refuge during the raids. A monument on the peak of Monte Sole commemorates the approximately 420 partisans of the »Stella Rossa« brigade as well as their commander Mario Musolesi, called »the wolf« (Italian: il lupo). A memorial church to the victims from the region was dedicated in nearby Marzabotto in 1961.
The »Peace School Foundation Monte Sole«, which mainly targets youths, aims to promote international dialogue. The foundation serves as a meeting centre and offers workshops on themes such as non-violent conflict resolution, human rights and international understanding.

Monte Sole, 2006, Ruins of the Casaglia village church, .arzan

Monte Sole, 2006, Memorial plaques, Kiki Follettosa

Possibilities

International youth meetings, seminars, guided tours and other educational offers for adults and schools, publications, library, archive

Open

The historical park is always accessible; all of the foundation's educational offers need to be booked in advance

Contact

https://www.montesole.org/

info@montesole.org

+39 051 931 574

Pian di Venola
40043 Marzabotto

Monte Sole, 2010, Cross in the memorial park, Biblioteca Salaborsa

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