San Giovanni di Sotto

A single farm stands on a country lane in a hilly landscape.
In San Giovanni di Sotto, 52 people lost their lives, shot in a farmyard in front of the stables. © Udo Gümpel

29 September 1944 , San Giovanni di Sotto, district in the Marzabotto commune (Bologna, Emilia Romagna)

While ascending Monte Caprara, soldiers of the 5th company of the reconnaissance-battalion rounded up the residents of Casoncello and Giovanni and gunned them down. In total 52 people were murdered.

Involved Unit

5th Company SS-Panzer Reconnaissance battalion 16 ‘Reichsführer-SS

Victims

52

Armed forces
Waffen-SS
The aerial view shows the red tiled roofs of the farm.
In San Giovanni di Sotto, the people taken earlier in Casoncello and San Giovanni di Sopra were also killed. © Udo Gümpel
  • The memorial plaque for the victims of the massacre hangs on a wall remnant surrounded by a low wooden fence.
    Monument in memory of the victims of 29 September 1944 in San Giovanni di Sotto. © Udo Gümpel
  • Detail of the stone memorial plaque.
    The plaque in memory of the victims, placed in San Giovanni di Sotto. © Udo Gümpel

Literature

Luca Baldissara, Paolo Pezzino, Il massacro. Guerra ai civili a Monte Sole, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009, pp. 136-141, 580.

Luciano Gherardi, Le querce di Monte Sole: vita e morte delle comunità martiri fra Setta e Reno, 1898-1944, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1986, pp. 117-130.

Dario Zanini, Marzabotto e dintorni, 1944, Bologna, Ponte nuovo, 1996, pp. 443-451.

Authorship and translation

Author: Carlo Gentile

Translated from German by: Joel Golb

© Project ‘The Massacres in Occupied Italy (1943-1945): Integrating the Perpetrators’ Memories’

2023

Text: CC BY NC SA 4.0

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