Germany and Italy as allies 1936-1943

During the Second World War, Nazi Germany and fascist Italy were initially allies. On 8 September 1943 Italy withdrew from the alliance. The German Wehrmacht then captured the Italian soldiers and officers. About 650,000 were deported to the German Reich and the occupied territories. The Nazi regime wanted to exploit the Italian labour force. Since a fascist puppet state dependent on Germany continued to exist in occupied Italy, the prisoners of war were declared military internees. Thus, although the Italians were military members of a friendly state, they could at the same time be used as forced laborers in armaments without regard to international law. Hunger, disease and violence shaped the everyday life of the prisoners.
In order to increase the labour yield, they were finally declared "civilian workers" in the summer of 1944. However, their living conditions improved only for a short time. About 50,000 died in the almost two years of captivity.
In Italy and Germany, recognition of the fate of the military internees came late. On the German side, the vast majority of military internees have still not received any compensation.