New President Sergio Mattarella visited the Fosse Ardeatine, the site of a World War II Nazi atrocity, in his first act after being elected on Saturday and called for international unity in the fight against terrorism. "The alliance between nations and peoples was able to beat the Nazi, racist, anti-Semite, totalitarian hate that this place is a painful symbol of," Mattarella said.
"The same unity in Europe and around the world will be able to beat those who want to drag us into a new season of terror". The Fosse Ardeatine is a network of caves on the southern edge of Rome where 335 men and boys were massacred in March 1944. The massacre was carried out by Nazi officers in a reprisal for a partisan attack that killed 33 German soldiers in central Rome on a street near the Trevi Fountain.
In retaliation, for every one German killed, the Nazis seized 10 Italians including civilians as well as numerous political prisoners and Jews who were in custody, plus five more who were also executed.
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