Pratovecchio Stia

Vaiano

14/06/1944

Killing of individual draft evader

German troops executed Ferdinando Fani on State Road 71 near the hamlet of Vaiano. Official sources report that Fani (registered in the municipality of Poppi and born in Memmenano) was part of a group of deportees being transferred to Prato. When they reached Vaiano, he was taken out by the Gendarmerie and shot on the spot. It is thought that the perpetrators of the murder and the circumstances of the deportation can be traced back to the what happened in Memmenano (Municipality of Poppi) on June 8th 1944. It cannot be ruled out that the killing was an angry retaliation for the sabotage and damaging of the road network (though without casualties) carried out between the 13th and 14th by the VIII Compagnia, 3a Battaglione, XXIII Bgt “Pio Borri”.

1 Dead

Fani Ferdinando

Responsible Corps

In all likelihood, the perpetrators of the reprisal were SS men of the Einsaztkommando Burger, a military police unit mainly made up of soldiers from the Feldgendarmerie and the Schutzpolizei. In the period from May to the beginning of June, these troops were also partly deployed in Poppi and Memmenano, as shown in the German documentation. It should be noted that this Corps, whose tasks included capturing deserters and combatting the partisans, is to be held responsible for a high proportion of killings loosely attributed in local memoirs to the Feldgendarmerie. The group was transferred from the Casentino to Modena at the end of June. Commander: Standartenfuhrer (SS colonel) Karl Heinz Burger. Einsaztkommandro Burger – SS