Interview with Alberto Buvoli

Interview with Alberto Buvoli

Alberto Buvoli recalls his wartime childhood in Udine, where he lived in the railway station area. He describes how furniture was moved to a safer place at the onset of the war and explains air raid precautions, such as leaving the windows open and putting paper strips on glass panes. He mentions the standard attack sequence consisting of strafing, bombing, and finally dropping incendiaries, and remembers the smell of fires and the sight of spent incendiary devices. Alberto explains the differences between different kinds of shelters: tunnels; re-purposed basements beneath substantial buildings; and small, private, concrete structures. He recalls the heavy bombing which destroyed his home, how they were temporarily housed inside a tunnel and his subsequent life as an evacuee in the countryside. He describes an episode in which German soldiers showed appreciation for piano music and later came back to enjoy the homely atmosphere of his flat. He also describes the conflict as a relatively care-free period: his parents tried to protect him, in every way, from the horrors of war while farmers provided non-rationed supplies. Bombings were an unavoidable consequence in the state of war.

2018-07-02

00:30:12 audio recording

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