March 1944

• March 3, 1944

  Today, Mr. Schumann’s wife arrived from Konstanz, she is a nice lady. She lives by Lake Constance, far away from the bombing, and every two or three months, she comes to Munich to see her husband who cannot leave his pharmaceutical job. We ate together and talked about Italy.

• March 4, 1944

  We are sitting in the hotel, Mr. and Mrs. Schumann and myself, when a young, distinguished looking man sits near us. He hears us speaking Italian and says he’s a French man from Corsica who understands Italian. He says he’s a cinema actor, he even gives us two photographs- one to me, and one to […]

• March 5, 1944

  I’m in the same company eating dinner at the hotel. The Corsican sits near us and offers us some chocolate. While we’re talking, some friends of Mr. Schumann come in and sit at our table, so the French man and I have to move to another table. While sitting there, another Italian man comes in, […]

• March 6, 1944

  I went to work this morning, after these days of rest, I feel well. Tonight, Mattiussi, the Corsican, and I ate dinner together. We went to bed at around 10:00, Mattiussi lives in a guesthouse nearby, on Kreuzstrasse 34. The French man and I went to sleep in my room.

• March 7, 1944

  I go to work and he’s still asleep, I come home at night and we do the same thing: we eat and then go to bed.

• March 8, 1944

  When I got home from work tonight, the French man was not in the hotel. I eat with Mattiussi, then he goes home to sleep and I sit with the Schumanns a bit. We talk for half an hour then I go to bed, they go to bed very late because they’re afraid of the […]

• March 13, 1944

  Tonight while I was sleeping, the porter came to warn me about the siren, it’s 21:50. At exactly midnight, the siren went off, we go to the shelter 600 meters from the hotel, there is snow outside. The siren stops at 1:00 and we go home.

• March 18, 1944

  Saturday, today is the eve of San Giuseppe’s feast day (translator’s note: San Giuseppe’s feast day is Father’s Day in Italy). As usual we left work at midday. Agostino, Ciccillo, and I bought some meat with the Marks we saved up and we go eat at the hotel where I live. While we’re eating, the […]

• March 19, 1944

  San Giuseppe’s feast day. I go to Fasanerie-Nord as we had agreed yesterday. Agostino is already cooking the meat, I arrive and help them cook. While we’re cooking the macaroni, we see Massimo Desantis come in. We say hello and invite him to eat lunch with us. So on San Giuseppe’s feast day, the four […]

• March 21, 1944

  Today we go to work like we do on every Monday; Mondays are horrible in Germany! When will this be over? I wrote to my brother in Terni, to my cousins in Rome, to my brother-in-law in Pianosa, begging them all to somehow give my wife news about me.

• March 23, 1944

  At night we eat at the same place, myself and Mattiussi from Trieste. I ask him if there is a free room at his guesthouse because I pay a lot where I am: 16.40 a week just for the bed.

• March 24, 1944

  Mattiussi spoke to his landlady, there is a free room at his guesthouse.

• March 25, 1944

  I gave up my hotel room and went to the guesthouse on Kreuzstrasse 34/1 where Mattiussi stays, I negotiated 36 Marks a month. Our rooms are next door, in the morning whoever wakes up first, wakes the other one up.

• March 26, 1944

  While we are sleeping, the landlady comes to wake us up: there is an air raid warning. I go to the usual shelter because it’s safe, Mattiussi doesn’t want to go outside in the cold so he goes to the guesthouse basement. There’s 25 centimeters of snow outside and it’s still coming down. After 30 […]

• March 30, 1944

  The siren goes off again while we’re sleeping, but they didn’t come to Munich this time either.