Prison camp for Italian military after the armistice of September 8, 1943, German propaganda photo
"Italian Military Internees" (Italienische Militärinternierte in German, Internati Militari Italiani in Italian, abbreviated as IMI) was the official name given by Germany to the Italian soldiers captured, rounded up and deported in the territories of Nazi Germany in Operation Achse in the days immediately following the World War II armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces (September 8, 1943).
After disarmament by the Germans, the Italian soldiers and officers were confronted with the choice to continue fighting as allies of the German army (either in the armed forces of the Italian Social Republic, the German puppet regime in northern Italy led by Mussolini, or in Italian "volunteer" units in the German armed forces) or, otherwise, be sent to detention camps in Germany. Those soldiers and officials which refused to recognize the "republic" led by Mussolini were taken as civilian prisoners too. Only 10 percent agreed to enroll.[1] The others were considered prisoners of war. Later they were re-designated "military internees" by the Germans (so as to not recognize the rights granted prisoners of war by the Third Geneva Convention), and finally, in the autumn of 1944 until the end of the war, "civilian workers",[2] so they could be subjected to hard labor without protection of the Red Cross.
The Nazis considered the Italians as traitors[3] and not as prisoners of war. The former Italian soldiers were sent into forced labor in war industries (35.6%), heavy industry (7.1%), mining (28.5%), construction (5.9%) and agriculture (14.3%). The working conditions were very poor. The Italians were inadequately fed or clothed for the German winter. Many became sick and died.
The death rate of the military internees at 6-7% was second only to that of Soviet prisoners of war although much lower.[4]
^"The Forgotten Italian Military Internees of WWII | the Stillman Exchange". Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
^Zimmermann, Elisabeth (July 17, 2008). "Italian court to allow claims by Nazi victims". www.wsws.org.
^"Home".
^Gerlach, Christian (2016). The Extermination of the European Jews. Cambridge University Press. pp. 235–236. ISBN 978-0-521-70689-6.
and 24 Related for: Italian Military Internees information
"ItalianMilitaryInternees" (Italienische Militärinternierte in German, Internati Militari Italiani in Italian, abbreviated as IMI) was the official name...
former allies designated them Italienische Militär-Internierte ("Italianmilitaryinternees") to deny them prisoner of war status and the rights granted by...
in retaliation for partisan attacks, and Italian Jews. This figure does not include Italianmilitaryinternees: approximately 40,000 of them died in German...
around 500 Italianmilitaryinternees and civilian workers, forced labourers from Eastern Europe possibly also lived in six barracks of the 'Italian camp'...
remaining 710,000 were designated Italianmilitaryinternees and were transported as forced labour to Germany. Some Italian troops that evaded German capture...
Republican State of Italy (Italian: Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia; SNRI), but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò (Italian: Repubblica di...
by an Italianmilitary tribunal in the north Italian town of La Spezia. They were sentenced to life imprisonment for the massacre. The Italian media reported...
1887–1950.] 1989, pp. 130–132; there also precise statistics on Italianmilitaryinternees and civilian workers. Monique Pivot: Maggi et la magie du bouillon...
combatant Italianmilitaryinternees List of war deities Military Chaplain Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project (RULAC) The United States Military Code of...
Initiative, of the Open Society Foundation Italianmilitaryinternees, name given by Germany to captured Italian soldiers "iMi", a song from the album I...
achievement'. Rauff remained in Italy until the end of the war. The MI5 file states: He narrowly avoided being lynched by an Italian mob, having barricaded himself...
Jewish-Italian organization (DELASEM) to operate legally in support of the Jewish internees. Conditions for non-Jews were much worse. Italian authorities...
brief, bloody fights with Italian troops stationed in Parma, Cremona and Piacenza on 9 September. By 19 September, all Italian forces in the Po River Plain...
The military history of Italy chronicles a vast time period, lasting from ancient Rome, through the medieval period, the Renaissance, the Italian unification...
where most Italian general officers captured by German troops during Operation Achse were gathered. By November 1943, the Italianmilitaryinternee population...
Anti-Italianism Anti-Catholicism in the United States (and Know Nothing movement) ItalianMilitaryInternees Foibe massacres Massacre of Italians at Aigues-Mortes...
military personnel prisoner. These personnel were designated "Italianmilitaryinternees" and not granted the rights of POWs under the Geneva Conventions...
000 Italian Jews to Auschwitz. A perpetrator in the Ardeatine massacre, in which 335 civilians were murdered, he was tried and convicted in Italy in 1998...
Cristiana, 16 October 2013 (in Italian) Agnew, Paddy (17 October 2013). "Body of Nazi war criminal held in storage on Italianmilitary base". The Irish Times...
2005, Sommer and nine other former SS members were convicted by an Italianmilitary court in La Spezia for the "continued murder with special cruelty"...
Round 1938-1945" and "Between two stools. The History of the ItalianMilitaryInternees 1943-1945". Entrance and guided tours are free. In several Russian...
Economic Enterprises) Fritz Sauckel Forced labor in the Soviet Union Italianmilitaryinternees Ispettorato Militare del Lavoro Service du travail obligatoire...
closely with the Italian police. In retaliation for the armistice between Italy and the Allies on 8 September 1943, the German military occupied Rome and...
Destroyed Zeiss Ikon factory in Jena. The image was taken by the U.S. military in 1945 and distributed by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. burning Brabag factory...
Global Information