Massacre memorial

Memorial to families massacred by Germans in 1944 at Pratale, Italy.

Descendants of 28th Maori Battalion men on the Ngarimu pilgrimage tour held a service at the memorial site to the relatives of this woman who were massacred by Germans in 1944.

"When the Front passed through, the Papini family had already evacuated to the Sardelli farm at Pratale, where many inhabitants from Sambuca had taken shelter. On the evening of 23 July a German patrol, with its usual brutal methods, ordered the evacuees to leave the house immediately and go to Florence. The same scene was repeated in nearby houses. The reason for all this would ony become clear to the evacuees the next morning, when the lifeless bodies of 12 men were found on the Gori family farm." - from 'Seems lke yesterday: Italian witnesses remember the passing of the Front' from Fusi (ed), To the gateways of Florence, Libro International, 2009, p. 197