German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is marking one of the worst massacres carried out by the Nazis in World War II on Sunday, in a trip to Italy that follows a visit by his Italian counterpart to western Germany.

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Steinmeier traveled to Italy immediately after Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s three-day visit to Germany.

 

The two presidents are scheduled to attend an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the Marzabotto massacre near Bologna.

 

Steinmeier plans to give a speech shortly after mid-day (1000 GMT).

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German Nazis murdered almost 800 people in Marzabotto, including numerous women and children, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 1944.

 

The murder was in retaliation for a partisan attack. It was among the worst massacres carried out by German soldiers on Italian soil during World War II.

 

Steinmeier is due to attend several wreath-laying ceremonies in the course of the day and is also set to meet survivors and relatives of the victims of the massacre.

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