Controversial Cassino war monument condemned

CASSINO – The authorities in Cassino were at the centre of controversy on Monday morning after the attempted unveiling of an incendiary war monument, which commemorates “all the fallen,” including German paratroopers who occupied the area, was blocked by protests and a significant social media backlash.

 The unveiling of the monument with an image of a parachute had been set to take place on Sunday at the location of the cave where German captain Ferdinand Foltin stationed his command of the First German Paratrooper Division during one of the bloodiest battles of World War Two in which over 70,000 troops lost their lives.

 The monument was dedicated “In Memory and Warning of all the fallen soldiers in 1944 during the bloody battle of Cassino and of the Civilian Victims of that terrible war.” However, its opponents argue that the real intent of the piece was to commemorate German paratroopers.

 The monument includes the image of a parachute and General Hans-Werner Fritz, president of the German Paratrooper Confederation, was set to attend the event, without a representative from any of Italy’s partisan groups or other associations, who opposed the occupying German regime.

 German troops deliberately used the town and its historic abbey as part of its defensive line across Italy, known as the Gustav Line. The Atlas of Nazi Massacres in Italy documents the involvement of German paratroopers in a number of atrocities during Italy’s occupation.

 The monument was initially spearheaded by the Hotel Association of The Montecassino Park and Gustav Line, but had received the support of the town’s centre-right mayor, Dr Carlo Maria D’Alessandro, and the Councillor for Culture, Dr Nora Noury.

 Both were due to attend the unveiling on Sunday alongside General Fritz. The Abbot of Montecassino, dom Donato Ogliari, was placed on the playbill for the ceremony, having supposedly agreed to bless the monument as part of the ceremony.  

 News of the ceremony had spread quickly last week, provoking numerous protests.

Fabrizio De Sanctis, President of the National Association of Partisans in Rome, argued that “we are facing a disfigurement of national identity, even more serious when the institutions participate.”

 “It would be interesting to know what the President of the Republic thinks about the presence of the Mayor of Cassino,” he added, “and what the pope thinks about the presence of the abbot of Montecassino.”

Nando Tasciotti, a journalist author of a book on the bombing of the Montecassino Abbey, argued that it is only necessary that the site be signalled with a tourist information sign, without the need for a monument, especially such an incendiary one featuring a parachute.

 “Even without the specific military banner of the time,” he contended,  “the symbolism and purpose of that ‘Monument’ appears clearly to the intelligence of all, and is unacceptable”.

Vittorio Emiliani, former editor-in-chief of Il Messaggero took to the pages of Il Fatto Quotidiano to attack the move. Likewise, Nicola Zingaretti, the recently re-elected president of the Lazio region, firmly rebuked the plans.   

The abbot denied ever having received an invitation and said he would not attend the event.  

 Eventually, the decision was taken by the mayor on Saturday evening to cancel the “divisive” event.

 At present, the parachute has been removed from the monument by the city authorities. It is still unknown, however, whether the plaque “In Memory and Warning” will remain.