Steinmeier to visit Italy for commemorative event
To mark the 80th anniversary of the Marzabotto massacre, German President Steinmeier is travelling to Italy.
Bologna (dpa) - Following Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s three-day visit to Germany, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is travelling to Italy on Sunday. Alongside Mattarella, Steinmeier plans to attend an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the massacre that took place at Marzabotto near Bologna, where he will give a speech.
Between 29 September and 1 October 1944, German troops murdered nearly 800 people, among them numerous women and children, in Marzabotto. An act of reprisal for a partisan attack, this was one of the worst massacres committed by German soldiers on Italian territory during the Second World War. During his visit, Steinmeier will also lay wreaths and meet survivors and relatives of the victims of the massacre.