Lamberto Dati lived in Valpromaro and was 17 years old; Lelio Gori was from Torre del Lago and was 18 years old; Fulgido Primon, 19 years old, was from Viareggio. They are the youngest victims of the first massacre of civilians carried out by German troops (SS and Wehrmacht soldiers) and fascist republicans in the Versilia area, 80 years ago in Valpromaro, in the Seimiglia area of Camaiore. On that occasion, there were twelve victims.
Their crime? Being Italian and ending up prisoners during a roundup by the Germans in the Seimiglia area, where the effects of the increasing pressure of the advance of the allied army and the action of the partisan groups, who had carried out several incursions, were being felt. Since the German leaders had decided that an example had to be set: in the first roundup on June 29, 25 prisoners were taken, not only residents of Valpromaro but also people displaced in the area. From twenty-five prisoners, some managed to escape. Twelve remained under the evil clutches of the German soldiers, despite the parish priest Don Dino Chelini and Professor Clemente Pizzi having offered themselves as hostages to allow the liberation of the prisoners.
There was nothing they could do: the Germans wanted blood. They “were looking for it” to corner not only the civilian population but also the partisans who were moving in a scattered fashion in the Seimiglia area. The other victims – in addition to Lamberto Dati, Lelio Gori and Fulgido Primon – were Velio Bini, 21 years old, from Torre del Lago; Roberto Arrigoni, 29 years old, from Camaiore; Angelo Cortopassi, 29 years old, from Valpromaro; Nello Rubinelli, 32 years old, from Viareggio; Ranieri Biagi, 33 years old, from Viareggio; Otello Farnocchia, 34 years old, from Camaiore; Guido Puosi, 36 years old, from Massarosa; Edilia Titta, 36 years old, from Gombitelli; Egisto Bramanti, 51 years old, from Valdicastello Carducci.
The shooting took place along the road that leads to the hilltop hamlet of Migliano where a memorial stone was built after the war. Historians have labeled these massacres – which in Versilia will have their most painful moment on August 12 in Sant’Anna di Stazzema – as a projection of the ‘strategy of terror’ that according to the Germans was supposed to dilute the joint action of the allies and the partisans, particularly active in the area. The elders of Seimiglia have tried, year after year, to cultivate the memory of these unfortunate young people who were massacred and left for a few hours along the road for people to see… the twelve martyrs have continued to live in the stories, often enriched by tears, of their relatives. “There were many young people, they had their whole lives ahead of them, they were guilty of nothing, except being Italian…”
Giovanni Lorenzini
