“Italian Military Internees” (“IMIs”)

Designation by which a special group of forced laborers was recorded during the Nazi era. After the Italian “Duce” Benito Mussolini, ally of the Nazi regime, was overthrown in July 1943 and Italy declared the war over on September 8, 1943, German troops quickly captured approximately 800,000 Italian soldiers in theaters of war and in Italy. The High Command of the German Armed Forces had prepared these actions in detail beforehand. The soldiers were given the choice of continuing to fight on the side of the Nazi regime or going into captivity. The majority of the prisoners, about 650,000 soldiers, who did not want to continue fighting for Nazi Germany, were deported to the Reich territory. Among other things, in order to be able to use them in the armaments industry, which would not have been permissible under international law in the case of prisoners of war, they were transferred to civilian status and henceforth called “Italian Military Internees” (IMIs). About 25,000 of them died due to the poor working and living conditions. The IMIs were never compensated as a group.