The largest group was made up of Internati Militari Italiani (Italian Military Internees, abbreviated as IMI), a term given by the military and political authorities of the Third Reich to officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy captured by the Wehrmacht in the days immediately following 8 September 1943, in the cities, southern France and the Balkans. By classifying them in this way, instead of – as required by international law – “prisoners of war” (Kriegsgefangenen), Berlin was able to deprive them of the protection of the International Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva…
