On August 12, 1944, German soldiers of the 16th SS division drove the local residents of the mountainous Tuscan village of Santa Anna di Stazzema to the main square in front of the church. Old people, children, women. The men hid in the woods, there was a rumor that the Germans would come to select strong guys for forced labor in Germany. Having gathered people at the church, the SS men placed machine guns. The priest Innocenzo Lazzeri tried to reason with the invaders, he offered his life in exchange for the life of the parishioners. He was killed first, by a point-blank shot to the head. Then they shot all the rest, 132 people, from machine guns. In total, almost 600 civilians died in the vicinity of Santa Anna that day.