A ceremony was held at the site of Lambinowice, south-west Poland, to mark the conclusion of excavations that led to the discovery of the remains of 60 Italian World War II fallen soldiers, found in the area of the former German prison camp ‘Stalag 344 Lamsdorf’.
During the war, ‘Stalag 344’ became one of the largest Nazi prison camps in Europe, and prisoners of different nationalities (Soviets, Bris, Yugoslavs, Italians, but also Poles) were imprisoned there. Until a few years ago, the burial place of Italian soldiers was unknown. The recent exhumation – one of the most significant for Italy in recent years – is the result of a project entitled “Science for Society, Society for Science in the Lambinowice Site of National Remembrance”, promoted from 2022 to 2024 by the Central Museum of Prisoners of War in Opole, thanks to funding from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, as well as the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, with the contribution of a large group of Polish researchers from different areas (historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, forensic doctors) and numerous volunteers.
The solemn event was attended by the Italian Ambassador to Poland, Luca Franchetti Pardo; a delegation from the Defence Ministry’s Culture and Memory Protection Office led by Gen. B. Fulvio Poli; the Italian Military Attaché in Poland, Col. Stefano Cavaliere; and the Honorary Italian Consul in Wroclaw, Monika Kwiatosz. On the Polish side it was attended by the Museum Director, Violetta Rezler-Wasielewska, and the many volunteers who worked with dedication at the Lambinowice site.
During the military ceremony, Ambassador Franchetti Pardo took the floor to honour the memory of the Italian soldiers who, after 8 September, were deported to German labour camps, where they lost their lives due to the suffering and hardship to which they were subjected.
The Ambassador said: “It is an honour to restore name and dignity to our fallen soldiers, who will thus be able to have a dignified burial.” At the end of the event, the remains of the Italian fallen soldiers were temporarily moved to the Bielany Italian Military Cemetery in Warsaw.