Hundreds of men, women and children were massacred by Nazi troops and local fascists for their support of Italian resistance fighters.
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00:00The presidents of Germany and Italy attended the 80th anniversary of the largest massacre
00:07of civilians by Nazi soldiers in Western Europe during World War II.
00:12Between the 29th of September and the 5th of October 1944, Waffen-SS troops killed at
00:18least 770 Italian civilians, including 271 children, women and elderly people in the
00:25village of Marzabotto.
00:27During the massacre, Nazi troops, aided by Italian fascist collaborators, killed hundreds
00:32of Marzabotto locals in reprisal for their support given to partisan freedom fighters.
00:37They also killed numerous residents of adjacent settlements.
00:41Italian President Sergio Mattarella and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier went together
00:46to the site of the massacre for a commemoration ceremony.
00:50The president of the Italian Bishops' Conference held a memorial mass in the Marzabotto church,
00:54whose crypt holds the bodies of the civilians killed 80 years ago.