Among the trial files hidden for over fifty years in the so-called ‘closet of shame’ (that is, a closed-door cabinet containing investigation files on war crimes in Italy during the period of 1943-1945, which were never brought to trial) at the General Military Prosecutor’s Office in Rome, 119 concern Nazi and Fascist war crimes falling within the territorial jurisdiction of the Military Court of Turin and committed against the civilian population of Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Lombardy and Liguria during the twenty months of the occupation.

These files were transmitted to the Turin Military Prosecutor’s Office during the triennium 1994 -1996, but only a small portion of them led to the conviction of the perpetrators. Among the trials held in Turin in the 1990s and 2000s are those for the massacres at Benedicta and Turchino (Siegfried Engel, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999), the Piazzale Loreto massacre in Milan (Theodor Saevecke, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999), and the murders and torture committed in the Albenga area (Gerhard Dosse, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006). Dozens of other murders remain unsolved due to the death of the suspect, or – given the long time that has elapsed – to the impossibility of reopening the investigation.

The crimes were not solely committed by Germans: members of the military formations of the Italian Social Republic (in particular G.N.R and the so called “Black Brigades”), guilty of “military collaborationism”, actively took part in the terror strategy wished by the German occupiers, as showed by  the many court files concerning the Italian responsibilities.

In addition to the files sent to Turin in the years 1994-1996, the so-called ‘closet of shame’ contained another 144 files on war crimes under the jurisdiction of the Military Court of Turin (one only transmitted to Turin in 1946, the others 143 sent in 1965), 98 files on collaborationism crimes (transmitted to Turin in 2002) and, finally 94 reports on crimes (mainly murders) committed against partisans in the valleys of Turin and Cuneo, Carabinieri belonging to the Turin Territorial Legion and employees of the State Railways in the Province of Turin, as well as other civilians in the Provinces of Pavia and Genoa. These reports, referred to by the General Military Prosecutor’s Office as ‘various papers’, were transmitted to Turin between 1994 and 1996.

Following two important transfers of trial documents in digital format – the first by the Historical Archive of the Chamber of Deputies and the second by the Military Court of Verona (to which, since 2008, the Military Court of Turin has been merged) – the present research was initiated within the ISTORETO Extraordinary and Military Justice Project, directed by Lawyer Maria Di Massa.

The study of war crimes trials involves the analytical indexing of individual case files /incident reports in order to reconstruct the tragic events of hundreds of civilians and partisans in Northwestern Italy, as well as to explore the limits and contradictions of post-war judicial policies that led to the substantial impunity of German and Italian war criminals.

The case files of the Prosecution and Military Court of Turin are available for consultation on ARCHOS and on the database of the Italian Military Justice.

The trial files are available for consultation at ISTORETO.