Mattarella recalls deported soldiers (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, January 27 - On Holocaust Remembrance Day Friday President Sergio Mattarella paid tribute to the Italian soldiers who were deported to Nazi camps for refusing to fight with Germany after Italy ceased hostilities with the Allies in World War II. "On Remembrance Day we also recall the 650,000 Italian military personnel deported to the German camps because, after September 8 (1943), they refused to serve Hitler," Mattarella said during a ceremony at the presidential palace. "That page of history, full of suffering and courage is an integral part of the Italian Resistance that is not always sufficiently well known".