Hunting Nazis: The Story of Hidden Dossiers in Agrigento

They remained hidden and forgotten in a closet with the doors facing the wall, in a closet of the chancellery of the Military Prosecutor's Office of Palazzo Cesi-Gaddi in Rome: almost 700 dossiers and a general register with 2274 reports of Nazi-Fascist war crimes, committed during the Second World War: the places tell of death, Marzabotto, Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Civitella, the Fosse Ardeatine. In 1994 the dossiers were found and a strong political debate began: it was the then military prosecutor of La Spezia Marco De Paolis who decided to start over 500 judicial proceedings against Nazi and Fascist war criminals responsible for unpunished massacres.

Fifteen years of work, between 2002 and 2018, reopening the files archived in the closet of shame, a hunt for the guilty between Italy, Germany and Austria to interrogate former SS still alive, establish responsibilities, bring the guilty to the dock and have them convicted; a search for the truth to give peace to the victims and survivors, because pain does not expire. Marco De Paolis has put this story down on paper - at the same time, public and private - and "Caccia ai nazisti" was born, published a few months ago by Rizzoli, with a preface by Liliana Segre.

The military attorney general Marco De Paolis will present the book Caccia ai nazisti and discuss it with the historian Beniamino Biondi, in the presence of Maria Teresa Cucinotta, president of the Agrigento Italian Capital of Culture 2025 Foundation, on Thursday 12 June at 5:30 pm in the hall of the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage at Villa Genuardi.

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