Panoramica dello stabilimento Acciai Speciali Terni – Crediti: Archivio Storico Acciai Speciali Terni
Where are we?
We are in Albinea
A monument was erected here in 1995 in memory of the five German soldiers, stationed at the Villa Rossi command post, who were shot in the summer of 1944 for collaborating with the partisans.
During the Italian Campaign, the German armed forces saw several thousand deserters, and more than 1,000 collaborated with the Resistance.
The reasons for desertion were extremely varied: from political and religious reasons, to private relationships or temporary situations. However, it was a culturally difficult and materially dangerous choice, both because of the severity of German military tribunals and the suspicion of the partisans.
A very significant case is that of Botteghe di Albinea. There, five soldiers from the Luftwaffe’s 200th Transmission Regiment, stationed in Villa Rossi and Villa Calvi at the Fifth Section of the German General Headquarters in Italy, met with local partisans, provided them with information, and planned to steal technical equipment. They were discovered by chance and killed between 26th and 27th August 1944.
In February 1945 during Operation Tombola, one of the most important military operations of the Resistance, their base was then attacked with the support of other Wehrmacht deserters.
A monument in their memory was erected at Botteghe as early as 1955. In the 1990s, a bas-relief was added, and the municipality of Albinea was twinned with the Berlin district of Treptow, the home of commander Hans Schmidt. Other participants were Erwin Bucher, Karl Heinz Schreyer, Erwin Schlünder and Martin Koch.
The bodies, initially buried in the parish cemetery, were transported in 1958 to Costermano, where their story is now remembered in the exhibition hall.
Facility or museum: no
Geographic location: Albinea (RE), Emilia Romagna