1:

• October 20, 1943

  I’ve started to learn my way around, so they no longer accompany us. I’ve begun making friends with the shopkeepers located along the road from the dormitory to the warehouse we work in. I secretly take a bag of apples or onions from the warehouse or the freight trains and give them to one shop, […]

• October 1, 1943

  Donato Russo and I went to work today.  We unload apples, cucumbers, and vegetables from Italian freight cars. At night, we go back to our dormitory. The only thing we eat here is “suppe”: warm water with wheat bran and not a bit of seasoning. At 20:00 we must take an obligatory shower, and at […]

• September 30, 1943

  We’ve arrived in Munich. It’s night, they take us to a grand hotel. Here, we exchanged some of our Italian money for German Marks. We bought some beer. At night we had to sleep on wood planks on the stage of a theater. We were taken to the employment office. People come to collect us […]

• September 26, 1943

  We’re at the Verona train station. I tried to escape. I stepped out on the opposite side of the tracks and tried to climb into a freight train that was at the station. I heard a shout behind me and saw a German with his rifle pointed straight at me. I immediately stepped back into […]

• September 24, 1943

  They load us into trucks again and we are taken to the Sparanise train station. Here, they load us into cattle cars. There are men from Casale, Carinola, San Donato, San Ruosi, and Ventaroli. They close the doors and there is no way out. We depart that same night. We are covered in sweat and […]

• September 23, 1943

  Casale di Carinola German soldiers with machine guns are positioned on all the streets of Casale. At around 8:00, a loudspeaker announces that all the townsmen must meet in the main square for a German official’s speech. Upon arriving in the square, we realize that we are surrounded on all sides. Our ID cards are […]