(April 5, 2017) On the evening of April 21, 1945, the arrival of Soviet troops and the guards escape marked the opening of the Labor Camps of Treuenbrietzen area, a town located 70 kilometers southwest of Berlin, intended for prisoners of war and forced laborers of different nationalities, employed in companies Kopp & Co and Dr. Kroeber & Sohn. On April 23, however, after the Soviet troops continued their advance, a German military unit separated Italians interned soldiers from the rest of the prisoners, and slaughtered them in a quarry near the village of Weinbergen. Of the 127 confirmed dead, 111 could be identified. This year to preserve the memory of the massacre, the Italian Embassy in Berlin in cooperation with the City of Treuenbrietzen promotes the commemoration ceremony: the date is Sunday, April 23 (coinciding with the Liberation Day) from 11, meeting point: Rathausplatz Treuenbrietzen (Brandenburg). (Red)

ABOUT / DIPLOMACY SEAT

The project of the new Italian Embassy in Berlin dates back to 1938, its construction started in 1939 and ended in 1943, but the official inauguration and its effective use as diplomatic mission took place in June 2003. The length of time between these dates is indicative of the complex events that are contained in this long and intense history. In the plans for the reconstruction of Berlin, capital of the Reich, Albert Speer gave particular importance to the Italian embassy, situated in the district of Tiergarten. But first the destruction of war, and later the movement of capital in Bonn and the raising of the Wall in 1961, meant that the imposing building, whose facades are inspired by the model of the Roman palace, did not really operat until 2003.