Page 29 - NONOSTANTE IL LUNGO TEMPO TRASCORSO…Le stragi nazifasciste nella guerra di liberazione 1943–1945

ENG Time, as they say, heals all wounds.
But when the wounds are so deep like those
inflicted by the Wehrmacht and SS soldiers on
women, children, partisans and Italian soldiers, or
by nazi Germany on almost 600,000 IMI (Interna-
ti Militari Italiani - Italian Military Prisoners), they
do not heal on their own; quite the opposite, the
longer they were not soothed, the harder the pain
was, especially for the victims’ relatives who had
to wait for justice to function. The denied justice is
thus added to survivors’ trauma and grief for their
victims. One must be brave and competent to ap-
proach those unhealed wounds.
The exhibition now staged in Germany talks
about old wounds. It also illustrates the courage
and determination that led the Military Public Pros-
ecutor Marco De Paolis and his team to face what
has been defined only as an “old story”. The exhibi-
tion documents war crimes committed by Germans
in Italy during the last phase of the second world
war, and the strenuous legal battle carried out by
the Military Public Prosecutor Marco De Paolis and
his collaborators. He shared, along with historians
and expert journalists, the conviction that a stable
relationship between Italy and Germany is possi-
ble, if we elaborate also juridically the violent epi-
sodes committed by Germans in Italy.
Dr. De Paolis and his colleagues, as well as the
historians, journalists, diplomats who support him,
had to overcome several obstacles until the recent
past. The exhibition explains this aspect too.
As the German Ambassador, I frequently
meet representatives of the victims’ associations
and of the Italian districts struck by these massa-
cres; however, I also meet German associations
and initiatives that are committed to shed light on
this story.
This extraordinary commitment instills cour-
age and the hope that it will be possible to hold
hands and work together for a better Europe, de-
HANS-DIETER spite the awareness of one of the darkest chapters
in history.
However, despite the efforts of so many peo-
LUCAS ple, the stories concerning the German war crimes
in Italy are still too little known in Germany. There-
Ambassador of the Federal Republic fore, I am very glad that the exhibition dedicated to
of Germany in Italy war crimes and their related trials is now visitable
also in Germany, after having toured the most im-
portant Italian cities. This has also been possible
thanks to the funds of the “Italian-German Fund
for the Future”, and the commitment of the Hes-
sian Land.
I really hope this exhibition will stimulate the
discussion in our Country about the German war
crimes in Italy.

STORIA GIUSTIZIA MEMORIA HISTORY JUSTICE MEMORY 29

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