Pallanza, Villa Giulia, 21.10.2018. Raphael Rues of Insubrica Historica had on Sunday the chance to held a presentation at the conference remembering the killing of at least 57 Jews during October 1944 on the shores of Lake Maggiore, Italy.
The conference saw the presence also of Senator for life, Mrs. Liliana Segre (Milan 1930). In a very vivid testimonial Mrs. Segre recalled her experience of being captured in 1943 and deported in the camp of Birkenau (Auschwitz).
The presentation about the Leibstandarte was focused on the military activities of the first Battalion of the Second Panzer Grenadier Regiment 2 of the Waffen-SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler commanded by Hans Becker. After a brief introduction regarding the actual Ph.D. project research of Raphael Rues, the presentation reconstructed the various stations of this unit, prior the operations in Italy. A very short video allowed the participants to discover even more details about this unit.
About 150 persons attended this event, which was organized by Casa della Resistenza (CaRe). Mrs. Ester Giuli Bucchi, archive responsible for CaRe, presented the online database dedicated to the Lake Maggiore massacres in September and October 1943, in which 57 Jews predominantly of Italian, German and Greek nationalities were killed. The operation is considered to be the first German massacre of Jews in Italy during World War II.
