Poppi

The village of Moggiona, situated close to the large-scale fortification constructions around Montanino, received the order to evacuate its inhabitants as early as mid-July 1944. On August 26th, German troops came to arrest and deport the villagers who had stayed behind. Among other things, they repeatedly fired into the cornfields in order to kill any fugitives. During these operations, a man probably suffering from Alzheimer’s disease was shot; the circumstances are unknown. The body was buried on the soldiers’ orders by the miller of Lierna. Later, on October 3rd 1944, the miller told the victim’s son (who had just returned from deportation to Romagna following the events of that day) how to exhume his father and give him a more dignified burial. What happened on August 26th was the precursor of the tragedy of Moggiona, which reached its climax with the massacre of September 7th 1944.