Following the overthrow of fascist rule in Italy by partisan forces in 1943, more than 650.000 Italian soldiers were categorized as military internees by Nazi Germany in order to circumvent international treaties prohibiting their use as forced labourers. Several thousands of these were forced to work in both private and public companies in Hamburg. Despite more recent Italian High Court sentences granting them a right to compensation, the German state denies them such rights, alleging that rather than being forced labourers they were treated as prisoners of war. The author describes the results of his research on various Hamburg-based companies that used Italian soldiers as forced labourers, civil society activities to commemorate the fate of these labourers and the political responsibilities of companies and politics with regard to the unmet demands made by prisoners and their families.