ROME -- The granddaughter of a nazi colonel who was responsible for the San Paolo massacre, which saw 65 partisans killed in 1944 has travelled to Italy to “understand” and apologise for what took place. 

  Laura Ewert, granddaughter of Colonel Wolf Ewert, knelt at the tombs of the victims, embracing the grandchildren of the survivors, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano. The massacre, ordered to incite fear into the Italian population and suppress the partisan resistance, saw 65 partisans and civilians die in San Paolo, including 8 women, 8 elderly people, and one newborn. Sunday, 14th July, marked the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, where soldiers from the 274th Grenadier regiment of the 94th Infanterie-Division carried out the atrocity.

  The 39-year-old Colonel Wolf Ewert, who had not known a life outside of the military, ordered the massacre. Ten days before the event, Ewert wrote in his diary: “The continuous incidents with bandits and the killing of German soldiers have led me to take very harsh actions against arrested partisans. Grave disturbances caused by partisan actions, which were, however, successfully fought.”

  His granddaughter Laura, who works as a journalist, is asking for forgiveness 80 years later. On Sunday, the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, she knelt at the memorial for the 65 victims in San Paolo. Arriving from Berlin, Laura explained that she was in San Paolo “to listen and to understand” the “value of testimony and remembrance so that such instances will never happen again.”

  “It was my Nazi grandfather who ordered the San Polo massacre. We never knew in my family, I only found out from Wikipedia. I will be in Tuscany to apologise for him,” Laura explained. 

  Laura Ewert also visited Civitella in Val di Chiana for a conference, where she broke down into tears due to another Nazi massacre ordered by her grandfather that occurred there. She said the discovery of her family history filled her with “sadness, pain, and shame.”

  “I wondered why my family never talked about it, why we never went to San Polo to ask for forgiveness.”

  At Ewert’s visit to the San Paolo memorial, she laid flowers and embraced Alessia Donati, the granddaughter of one of the survivors. Ewert was accompanied by Udo Gumpel, another journalist who has focused on the Nazi-fascist massacres in Italy.

  “For me, it is time to listen. From the testimonies and encounters, I want to understand why it all happened. Why did my grandfather give the order to shoot? We live in difficult times with ongoing wars, and this shows that we are not completely out of danger and that certain moments can be experienced again,” Ewert stated.

  “This is one of the rare times when the descendant of a Nazi apologises and that is the value of Laura’s gesture.” Gumpel added. 

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