The Caiazzo massacre (Italian: Eccidio di Caiazzo, German: Massaker von Caiazzo) was the massacre of 22 Italian civilians at Caiazzo, Campania, Southern Italy, on 13 October 1943, during World War II by members of the German 3rd Panzergrenadier Division. The massacre was described as having been of a particularly brutal nature and its leader, Lieutenant Wolfgang Lehnigk-Emden, was soon after captured by Allied forces. Lehnigk-Emden confessed to part of the crime but was later accidentally released and, for the next four decades, was not put on trial.

In 1994 an Italian court sentenced Lehnigk-Emden and a non-commissioned officer of the division, Kurt Schuster, to life imprisonment in absentia, but neither was extradited by Germany. Lehnigk-Emden was also put on trial in Germany in a case that went to the high court, the Bundesgerichtshof; he was found guilty but released as the statute of limitations had expired. This caused considerable outrage in both Germany and Italy because of the particularly brutal nature of the crime.

On 13 October 1943, the day Italy declared war on Nazi Germany,^[1] German forces were retreating from the area around the Volturno river. At Monte Carmignano the 3rd Company of the 29th Panzergrenadier regiment had been taking defensive positions, part of the Volturno Line, and were under threat by advancing American forces.^[2] The German units in the area feared attacks by local partisans and reacted with violence, resulting in the execution of 33 local civilians in the period between 2 and 13 October, the worst of those incidents being the Caiazzo massacre.^[2][3][4][5]

In the evening Lehnigk-Emden spotted what he perceived to be secret signals from a large farmhouse nearby the advancing Americans. Lehnigk-Emden, who was not particularly well-respected by his soldiers, entered the farmhouse with a few of them to find 22 peasants from four different families hiding there from the anticipated fighting. His company commander, Draschke, ordered the execution of the four heads of the families. This order was carried out, as well as the shooting of three women who tried to prevent the German soldiers from doing so. Lehnigk-Emden confessed during captivity that he was part of this execution commando, whose deed was classified as manslaughter by the German courts.^[2][4]

Following this, Lehnigk-Emden and two sergeants, one of them Kurt Schuster, returned to the farmhouse where the remaining 15 women and children were hiding. They threw hand grenades through the window and shot and bayoneted survivors trying to escape. Wilhelm May, a German soldier who was not involved in the second part of the massacre, later testified as a witness to the events that women and children were brutally murdered.^[2][4]

The massacre remains strong in the mind of the community of Caiazzo. Flowers are regularly laid at the scene and schoolchildren are told about it from a young age. However, the local priest at the time, Don Gerardo Fava, stated in 1993 that the community did not seek revenge, only justice.^[2]

In 1995, Lehnigk-Emden apologized for his actions, blaming them on the chaotic situation near the front lines and his youth and inexperience. This apology was not accepted by Nicola Sorbo, the mayor of Caiazzo, who suggested that if Lehnigk-Emden was sincere in his repentance, he would return to Italy to face the courts.^[7] Lehnigk-Emden's hometown, Ochtendung, was branded as a "Nazi village", but, in 1995, entered a town twinning agreement with Caiazzo, which had been suggested by the latter.^[5]

In December 2017, it was announced that the German embassy had approved €30,000 in funding for a museum in Caiazzo commemorating the massacre.^[8]