Italy

Sant’Anna di Stazzema

The EHL Site

Sant’Anna di Stazzema is a European site of remembrance: on 12 August 1944 one of the most dramatic massacres of civilians of the Second World War took place in Sant’Anna by the 16th Panzergrenadier-Division Reichsführer SS: a real crime of war with the killing of over 500 civilians including women, elderly people and 130 children. At the time there wasn’t even a road to get to Sant’Anna: and in the summer of 1944 during the Nazi retreat it was a destination for many displaced people fleeing from the war, because Sant’Anna seemed like a safe place to wait for the front to pass. The violence with which the massacre took place is exemplary and, due to its ability to transform the horrible events that occurred there into a commitment to ensure that they do not happen again, has meant that over the years Sant’Anna di Stazzema has become a symbol of the places where massacres took place against civilians.

For this commitment, today Sant’Anna di Stazzema hosts the National Peace Park, established by the Italian Parliament with law 381/2000. The National Peace Park has its operational structures in the Historical Museum of the Resistance and in the Rights Factory, while the visit includes other significant places such as the town church and its square and the Ossuary monument where they rest after 1948, the year of its construction, the remains of the victims. A trail network connects all the places of the massacre within a highly valuable natural context. Some prominent figures have been awarded various honours: the parish priest Don Inncoenzo Lazzeri, who uselessly offered his life in exchange for that of his parishioners, Gold Medal for Civil Valor, Milena Bernabò who saved three children in the locality of La Vaccareccia, Cesira Pardini, who brought three sisters and another child to safety in the Coletti area and Genny Bibolotti Marsili, who threw a hoof at a German soldier so that he would not enter the stable where he was and could see little Mario who was saved, all awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Merit. The Historical Museum of the Resistance collects the memories of the massacre, becoming a place of analysis, reflection, memory and exchange between European peoples.

A driving force for peace in Europe. Sant’Anna intends to bring itself ever more strongly to the attention of institutions throughout Europe as an international laboratory of peace and democracy, an educational center for the production of political and cultural democracy aimed especially at young people, to build the future of Europe based on memories of the past.

European dimension

Sant’Anna di Stazzema is an important site of remembrance, honoring the suffering of the European people during World War II. The National Peace Park of Sant’Anna regularly hosts discussions on democracy and the threats of totalitarianism. It also offers cultural activities like art exhibitions and theatre festivals centered on these themes. The main goal is to help younger generations grasp and value the principles of peace and democracy, which are crucial to the European Union’s foundation.

The Park attracts over 30,000 visitors each year, including around 200 school groups. For the past 20 years, it has also hosted a Youth Forum. In 2012, the then President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, inaugurated the “Factory of Rights” on the site, a space dedicated to debates, workshops, and exhibitions focused on conflict. In March 2013 President Napolitano and German President Gauck in Sant’Anna di Stazzema the common commitment on the issues of memory was established. In 2017 it welcomed the G7 foreign ministers and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini. 

The organization

The management of the activities of the National Peace Park and the Museum are entrusted to an institution based in Sant’Anna di Stazzema in the premises of the Historical Museum of the Resistance with an operational headquarters at the Stazzema Town Hall. The Institution provides, as an instrumental body of the Municipality of Stazzema, the management of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema National Peace Park and its activities, and for this purpose, promotes cultural initiatives, including at an international level, inspired by the maintenance of peace and the collaboration of peoples.