San Giovanni di Sotto
![A single farm stands on a country lane in a hilly landscape.](/fileadmin/_processed_/8/7/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole1_0566977aea.jpg 320w, /fileadmin/_processed_/8/7/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole1_3a86a5c161.jpg 480w, /fileadmin/_processed_/8/7/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole1_52040af657.jpg 640w, /fileadmin/_processed_/8/7/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole1_108ff32ea1.jpg 960w, /fileadmin/_processed_/8/7/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole1_b009f7a959.jpg 1280w, /fileadmin/_processed_/8/7/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole1_24ccca08b8.jpg 1920w, /fileadmin/_processed_/8/7/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole1_a5e9ac16fc.jpg 2560w)
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
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5th Company
SS -Panzer Reconnaissance battalion 16 ‘Reichsführer-SS’ - Culprits
- Victims
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52
- Armed forces
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Waffen-SS
![The aerial view shows the red tiled roofs of the farm.](/fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_6b9a190c57.jpg 320w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_9c452abd67.jpg 400w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_73bb210490.jpg 480w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_92abca4ee7.jpg 560w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_e748165a60.jpg 640w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_b1db438a77.jpg 800w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_04f2150049.jpg 960w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_5fd9674c15.jpg 1120w, /fileadmin/_processed_/2/5/csm_San_Giovanni_Monte_Sole2_6ee1e6eb3b.jpg 1280w)
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Two tiny villages
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From Casoncello to San Giovanni di Sotto
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Family grave and war memorial
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