Caroline Moorehead
Between April and August 1944 Tuscany suffered some 50 massacres of civilians by the retreating German army. Among them were the villages of Civitella and San Pancrazio and the nearby hamlets of Cornia and Gebbia, high in the hills above Arezzo. In Civitella and San Pancrazio it was the men who were lined up and shot; in Cornia and Gebbia no one was spared. The killers were auxilliary units of the Wehrmacht and SS, as well as local Italian fascists, who wore masks to avoid being recognised. Before pulling out, they looted the houses before setting fire to them and slaughtering the animals. They took away with them six hostages, who they later killed.
I am writing a book about these villages. My plan is to cover ten years of local life, from the late 1930s to 1946. I want to describe life under fascism, the fall of Mussolini, the German occupation, the civil war, the massacre and the aftermath. The villages became places of mourning, the surviving women always in black, the children sent away to college. Not all agreed about why the massacres had taken place. Some blamed the partisans, who had recently killed three German soldiers in Civitella, Others saw it as part of German policy, protecting their men as they pulled north.
During the winter of 1943 a small partisan band, known as Renzino, had set itself up in the hills around Cornia. Not far from here lay two camps: one for Libyan Jews at Oliveto, another for Allied prisoners of war at Laterina.
Both Oliveto and Laterina saw prisoners escape. Some joined Renzino. Others found sanctuary with local families.
I am trying to trace the families of any Allied prisoner who spent time in Laterina or was helped by local families. Any leads would be extremely welcome.
If you can help please contact info@msmtrust.org.uk.
