Sant’Anna di Stazzema awarded the European Heritage Label

Brussels – A land of brutality, sorrow, and pain. However, it is a symbol of reconciliation and an example, albeit a difficult one, of educating and writing a new history page based on peace and inclusion. Sant’Anna di Stazzema, an emblematic site of Nazi-fascist fury, is awarded the European Heritage Label, the European heritage mark granted by the EU to all those sites with a cultural, historical and ethical value significance.

Sant’Anna di Stazzema was the scene of one of the symbolic massacres of World War II. A massacre in which 560 people, including 130 children, lost their lives at the hands of the Nazi SS at dawn on August 12, 1944, when Italy was divided between partisans and regular forces sided with the Allies on one side and the republicans who remained loyal to the Rome-Berlin axis. This was not retaliation against anti-fascist militias but a deliberate and premeditated act aimed at physically and psychologically annihilating the local population.

Italy has long made it a place of remembrance, complete with a memorial for peace and an anniversary. On March 24, 2013, there was the meeting and embrace between the two then-presidents of the Italian and German republics, Giorgio Napolitano and Joachim Gauck, in front of the monument erected to celebrate the victims, sealing the newfound union of peoples after the war and its horrors.

Today, as the European Commission points out, this remembrance park, established in 2000, hosts about 30 thousand visitors yearly, is a school field trip destination for about 250 schools, and is a centre for debates and conferences. That is why the EU now recognizes the special label for its key role in promoting the history of Europe and building that integration and peace that came with difficulty and pain.

“I encourage everyone to visit the sites,” is the appeal from Iliana Ivanova, commissioner for Culture and Education. “Each site is unique and provides enriching experiences.”