Stazzema Nazi Massacre Hero Milena Bernab² Dies

Stazzema: Milena Bernab², the only surviving woman decorated with a gold medal for civil valour for her heroic act during the 1944 World War II Nazi massacre in the Tuscan village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema, has died at the age of 96.

According to Ansa News Agency, Bernab² was 16 years old when she rescued three children-Mario, aged five, and Mauro and Lina, both aged 10-from certain death on August 12, 1944. On that day, Nazi troops stormed the village, killing 560 unarmed people, including 130 children. Bernab² was in the Vaccareccia area, known for the highest number of civilian casualties, with 130 women, children, and elderly people killed following the massacre at the S. Anna church.

Bernab² was awarded the gold medal for civil valour on October 12, 2004, 60 years after the massacre. She managed to escape when German soldiers began shooting at her and other civilians gathered in a barn. Despite being seriously wounded, she climbed to the barn’s attic, which had been set on fire, to rescue the three children. Her act was described as “a shining example of courage and of an elevated spirit of abnegation,” in the motivation for the honour, which recognizes acts of exceptional courage that highlight civic virtue.

The other two women from Sant’Anna who received a gold medal were Cesira Pardini, who passed away in 2022, and Genny Bibolotti Marsili, who died on the day of the massacre. The massacre in Sant’Anna di Stazzema on August 12, 1944, was the second worst Nazi atrocity in Italy during WWII, following the September 1944 Marzabotto massacre, which claimed over 770 lives.