Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre
The Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre was a German war crime, which was committed in the hill village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema in Tuscany, Italy, in the course of an operation against the Italian resistance movement during the Italian Campaign of World War II. On 12 August 1944, the Waffen-SS, with the help of the Brigate Nere, murdered about 560 local villagers and refugees, including more than a hundred children, and burned their bodies. These crimes have been defined as voluntary and organized acts of terrorism by the Military Tribunal of La Spezia and the highest Italian court of appeal.
Massacre memorial sculpture
An elderly survivor at the village on 14 December 1944
The restored village church and World War I memorial in 2008
The National Park of Peace monument in 2007
The Auxiliary Corps of the Black Shirts' Action Squads, most widely known as the Black Brigades, was one of the Fascist paramilitary groups, organized and run by the Republican Fascist Party operating in the Italian Social Republic, during the final years of World War II, and after the signing of the Italian Armistice in 1943. They were officially led by Alessandro Pavolini, former Minister of Culture of the fascist era during the last years of the Kingdom of Italy.
Alessandro Pavolini, commander-in-chief of the Black Brigades (left) and Vincenzo Costa (right) review the troops of the 8th Black Brigade "Aldo Resega", summer of 1944
Mussolini reviews 5th Alpine Mobile Black Brigade "E. Quagliata", Brescia, 1945.
The Black Brigade "Marcello Turchetti" of Mantua, before one of its last actions in the closing days of the war, April 1945
Soldiers in Black Brigades, holding submachine guns. Note: the smiling soldier, wearing the unusual-looking, skull cap hat, with a huge skull insignia on the front.
