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Interview with Franco Nocchieri
Franco Nocchieri recalls his early years as an orphan living in several different towns in the Province of Pavia. He describes the bombing of the Voghera railway station, which started while he was heading to school. He goes on to explain how he and…
Interview with Charly Pfeifer
Charly Pfeifer recounts his experiences of the bombing of Betzdorf an der Sieg, a small town not far from the Ruhr. He explains the strategic importance of the city, due to the presence of locomotive works. He recalls taking shelter from the bombs in…
Interview with Rob Carter
Rob Carter was born in the village of Scampton and reminisces about his life on the land before the war. He recalls the foundation of RAF Dunholme Lodge, which his house overlooked. During the war, he served in the Auxiliary Fire Service. He was…
Interview with Dirk Bosch
Dirk Bosch was eight years old when the German army occupied his hometown of Amsterdam. He describes what life was like for him during this time. He tells of seeing Dutch Jews rounded up and deported. He describes the hunger of the time and the…
Interview with Maria Teresa Boazzelli
Maria Teresa Boazzelli describes the bombing of Frascati on 8 September 1943 and provides an account of life inside an improvised shelter: people praying and screaming after explosions. She explains how the Germans had been expecting the bombing and…
Interview with Gerda Gentner
Gerda Gentner (b. 1934) recalls the first bombing of Dresden on 7 October 1944, and describes how she, unsuccessfully, tried to persuade a young boy to take shelter with her in the basement; she recalls her feelings when she heard that he had died as…
Interview with Agnes Stocker
Agnes Stocker (b. 1932) recounts her evacuation from her hometown and the journey to Ueckermünde. Agnes tells how she got separated from her sister, her brother and her cousin, who followed the road to Swinemünde, while she, her mother and her aunt…
Interview with Brigitte Terboven
Brigitte Terboven (b.1930) recalls the bombing of Essen and the dropping of an air mine by a British bomber, trying to evade a German night fighter. The bomb hit the ground about 20 metres from her home, which collapsed like a house of cards. She…
Interview with Jörg Funfoff
Jörg Funfoff (b. 1942) recalls his experience of being a young boy at Heiligensee, a Berlin suburb on the flight path of approaching bombers. He tells how he was the first to hear the bombers approaching before they are in sight (a fact he was proud…
Interviews with Jaun Schauerte
Jaun Schauerte (b.1936) recalls rushing to the shelter with a suitcase and a back pack. He remembers one night when his grandmother fell under the heavy weight of the rucksack and nobody stopped to help her. He also recalls the Bremen bombing, while…
Interview with Margarete Meyer
Margarete Meyer (b. 1936) describes the Dresden bombing, 13 February 1945, and recalls how her mother reacted to the alarm. She rushed to the shelter and took some belongings, including what she thought was her confirmation dress. Margarete explains…
Interview with Christoph Wagner Brausewetter
Christoph Wagner Brausewetter (b.1929) recalls the hardships civilians endured inside a shelter, the risks involved and the fact they spent more time there than at home. He maintains that the worst year was 1943, when aircraft were no longer able to…
Interview with Maria Domanovszky
Maria Domanovszky (b. 1937) tells how she threw herself into a swampy ditch when under fire and how she lay down praying and hoping to get back home safely. She describes German soldiers with torn and dirty uniforms escaping from a burning forest.…
Interview with Paola Bianchi
Paola Bianchi (b. 1938) recalls daily life in wartime Tuscany. She describes Rosalinda, a strict midwife, and recounts how people used to take refuge in shelters. She also gives an account of how, during the evacuation to Arezzo, at night, they…
Interview with Carlo Gasparini
Carlo Gasparini (b. 1930) talks about his memories of the bombing raids on Milan. He provides an account of a night bombing with many flares that illuminated the sky as if it were daytime. He also describes the rush to safety during another bombing…
Interview with Delia Cardini
Delia Cardini recalls her childhood as an orphan in a boarding school and how, at the age of 10, she moved to Milan. She remembers how the Fascists used castor oil to humiliate their opponents. Delia also describes how, after a night bombing, she was…
Interview with Silvana Morganti
Silvana Morganti (b. 1924) recalls the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome, in which she describes the sight of dead people, a destroyed shelter, and children waiting for their dead mothers to return. Silvana also explains that she…
Interview with Gino Lanni
Gino Lanni (b. 1935) describes how he ran through the alleyways of Segni in the aftermath of a bombing. He also recalls his experience of seeing a severed hand being trampled by panic-stricken people and the sight of dying civilians.
Interview with Matteo Basso
Matteo Basso (b. 1934) recalls some foods he ate during the war, at school for breakfast, he used to eat a slice of polenta and two figs. He also talks about his experience in being caught out in the open when a formation of aircraft dropped bombs…
Interview with Margherita Franco
Margherita Franco (b. 1934) describes how an unexploded bomb was found in the garden of their house. She mentions technical terms she learned at that time and describes how her father resorted to the Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea bomb…
Bombers flying over San Giorgio di Nogaro
Bombers fly over a town. In the scene, every window is lit up. Civilians are running for shelter. A woman reaches out for her child. One man remains stationary and seems confused. The five aircraft are being targeted by anti-aircraft fire.
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Bombing of Dresden
Men, women and children flee in panic surrounded by fire and destruction. One man falls to the ground near a pylon. Two ships are visible in the background and the nearer of the two has taken a direct hit and exploded in flames. At the top of the…
Interview with Lidia Barberis
Lidia Barberis (b. 1934) remembers her early life in Turin and Piedmont, under the constant threat of bombing. She describes her father being taken away by the SS, the daily chores and a precarious trip by horse-drawn cart. She also describes the…
Interview with Luciana Cella Guffanti
Luciana Cella Guffanti (b. 1932) describes the role played by officers of the Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea during the bombings of Milan, especially when they had to persuade reluctant people to go to the shelters. She describes an occasion…
Interview with Rosanna Giungi
Rosanna Giungi (b. 1933) describes how Pippo disrupted daily life in wartime, especially affecting those close to the Modena-Brennero and Modena-Verona railway lines. She reminisces about the sight of Germany-bound trains packed with people…