Introduction or preface

- Is analysis of the trial against former German C-i-C Albert Kesselring, followed by a death sentence, and the subsequent public campaign aimed at his liberation, gives an explanation for the failure of British War Crimes Policy in Italy after 1945. The Kesselring trial and the clemency campaign in his favor are analyzed using the concept of deliberate memory formation politics. Particular emphasize is laid on German war memory, the public debate and the formation of a lobby defending accused war criminals. Kesselring's escape from the death sentence was further facilitated by the Italian refusal to execute the field marshal for political considerations in view of imprisoned Italian war criminals awaiting trial in Yugoslavia. With the trials program in Italy abandoned, the whole British war crimes policy was changed as a consequence. An analysis of discord between the German Mediterranean Veterans shows that the unity behind the Clean War myth was only at front cover. Keywords: Germany, History, Second World War, War criminals, Memory. Parole chiave: Germania, Storia, Seconda guerra mondiale, Criminali di guerra, Memoria.