Mattarella: "Marzabotto is the cornerstone of the Republic"Steinmeier asks for forgiveness

“Today I am here before you as German Federal President and I feel only pain and shame. I bow before the dead. On behalf of my country today I ask you for forgiveness”. A long round of applause broke out in Marzabotto after the words, pronounced in perfect Italian, by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who arrived in the town square directly from Germany with the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, for the 80th anniversary of the Marzabotto massacre. Both returning from a private meeting in Monte Sole, on the site of the massacre, where there was an embrace with the survivors of the massacre.

it is the duty of memory for the Marzabotto massacre, perpetrated by Nazi troops led by Major Walter Reder between 29 September and 5 October 1944, which caused the death of 770 civilians including women, children and elderly people in the territories between the municipalities of Marzabotto, Grizzana Morandi and Monzuno, in the Bolognese Apennines. Victims of roundups, found in a relatively large territory, made up of small villages, parishes, taverns, emporiums: many remained buried for months and only after the end of the war did they come to terms with the horror.

“Words become small in this place – Steinmeier said – They are not enough to describe what happened here in Monte Sole eighty years ago. So much cruelty, so much suffering, so much pain. So many people whose lives were destroyed here “.
Here in Marzabotto, however, hope was somehow reborn from a tragic story, laying the foundations for Europe. “Marzabotto and Monte Sole are cornerstones of the Italian Republic – explains Sergio Mattarella at the time – “Today, your presence, dear President Steinmeier, is a further push to move forward together in building the future”.

“Eighty years after those tragic days – adds the Head of State – today we feel more clearly that Marzabotto and Monte Sole are the symbol and foundation of the whole of Europe, proof of our common destiny which, together, in recent days, in Berlin as in Bonn and Cologne, we confirmed that we want to choose. That of a Europe that does not give up, and indeed wants to develop its values, its civilisation, its rights, founded on the primacy of the person”. “In this way – concludes Mattarella – we will contribute to a Europe of peace, founded on the values ​​that were denied here with enormous bloodshed”.

In the church ceremony, the homily of the Archbishop of Bologna and president of the CEI, Matteo Maria Zuppi, was touching: “The presence here today of two Presidents – he underlines – helps us to understand how reconciliation, harmony and brotherhood are the true answer “. On his chest Zuppi has a new cross, made, he explained, of Monte Sole oak wood.

Hundreds of delegations were present at the ceremony in the square and in the streets of the town, for a total of around 1300 registered people; images of Monte Sole, memories and testimonies of the survivors were projected on the giant screen while waiting for the institutional guests. There were chants of ‘Bella ciao’ and applause. Also present were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, and the Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini.
The Democratic Party secretary, Elly Schlein, wanted to remind us that “memory entails a responsibility, a responsibility to remember and learn from saying never again. Unfortunately, nationalism – she added – returns to produce wars today too and the European Union was born from ashes of two devastating world wars caused by nationalism. I therefore also found the reference to this responsibility entailed by the memory of Monte Sole today to say enough to nationalism, hatred of discrimination and what Nazism and fascism together have here. product”.

For the mayor of Marzabotto, Valentina Cuppi, the sentence must be definitive. “This joint visit is a return to our European genesis – says the mayor – the condemnation of fascism and Nazism is based here. Fascism has no lesser sins than Nazism and must be condemned in its entirety”.