March 24th 1944: The Massacre in Rome

Map

The Three Ages by Francesco Coccia

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Exactly eighty years ago, on March 24th 1944, 335 innocent men and boys were executed in retaliation for the death, on the previous day, of 33 Nazis in an attack by partisans in the centre of Rome.

On the afternoon of March 23rd, a column of the Bozen military police was marching back to its barracks when a bomb exploded killing 32 of them. The bomb had been hidden by members of the resistance movement in a rubbish cart in Via Rassella,  a stone's throw from the Palazzo Barberini, in the heart of the city.

Hitler, on hearing the news, was incandescent with rage, ordering that 10 Italians be shot in reprisal for each German that had died. He also insisted that the executions take place within twenty-four hours of the attack. The Gestapo had to find 320 men, but this soon increased to 330 when another German soldier died from his injuries. 
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​On March 24th the victims were transported to the Fosse Ardeatine (Ardeatine Caves) a short distance from the Via Appia, where they were shot in groups of five. In the end, 335 were executed, for the Gestapo had rounded up five men too many. The Germans then blew up the entrances to the caves, thereby burying the bodies. The dead were exhumed and (most of them) identified soon after the German retreat in June, 1944.

​There are wreaths, commemorating people who died in the massacre, attached to buildings throughout the centre of Rome. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 74. 

On March 24th 1949, the Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine (Mausoleum of the Ardeatine Caves) opened. The large bronze gate at the entrance was designed by Mirko Basaldella (1910-69), while the sculpture of Le tre età (The Three Ages) is the work of Francesco Coccia (1902-81). 
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A plaque proclaims: QUI FUMMO TRUCIDATI VITTIME DI UN SACRIFICIO ORRENDO DAL NOSTRO SACRIFICIO SORGA UNA PATRIA MIGLIORE E DURATURA PACE FRA I POPOLI (Here we were massacred, victims of a horrendous sacrifice. May a better country rise from our sacrifice and a lasting peace between people). 

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Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine (Mausoleum of the Ardeatine Caves)

Plaque to Those Who Were Killed