This article is within the scope of WikiProject Discrimination, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Discrimination on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DiscriminationWikipedia:WikiProject DiscriminationTemplate:WikiProject DiscriminationDiscrimination articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject European history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of Europe on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.European historyWikipedia:WikiProject European historyTemplate:WikiProject European historyEuropean history articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Germany, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Germany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GermanyWikipedia:WikiProject GermanyTemplate:WikiProject GermanyGermany articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Jewish history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Jewish history on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Jewish historyWikipedia:WikiProject Jewish historyTemplate:WikiProject Jewish historyJewish history-related articles
This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Death, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Death on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DeathWikipedia:WikiProject DeathTemplate:WikiProject DeathDeath articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Italy, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Italy on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ItalyWikipedia:WikiProject ItalyTemplate:WikiProject ItalyItaly articles
A fact from Axis war crimes in Italy appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 19 September 2018 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Usually if you are going to have a long list, it's better to put it in its own article. Don't worry about the refs, there is a bot that will fix them. Catrìona (talk) 23:35, 21 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The article at present seems very biased. A 'crime' is a breach of law, not a moral transgression. The shooting of civilians as reprisals was not illegal under international law in the Second World War. The Germans themselves didn't view many of their violent reprisals as "criminal" and indeed, in a technical sense, they weren't. The benchmark case was the 1928 international arbitration of the 1914 Naulila affair between German colonists in South-West Africa (Namibia) and Portugese Angola though even at that, there was no clear endorsement of violent reprisals but rather an inference that they were permissible. No doubt the Allies interpreted the law differently, but something of this should be mentioned in the article. The difficulty would be in finding a reputable source. World opinion has evolved so there is no question today that shooting civilians is wrong. Unfortunately, that was not the case in 1944 and so the article gives a skewed understanding of the mindset the Germans were operating under.174.0.48.147 (talk) 21:41, 1 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
We go off what it says in reliable sources, not an IP editor's interpretation of international law. Details on the (il)legality of hostage executions are not for this article, and should be covered at reprisal. (t · c) buidhe00:54, 2 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]