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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 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 Inge Heinrich
Inge Heinrich (b.1922) describes the bombing of the Berlin borough of Kreuzberg and recalls how she had dreamt of being buried alive under the rubble but surviving in the end. She tells of how the patent agency building, in which she was working, was…
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 Irma Ferranti
Irma Ferranti recalls a day when there were four bombings in Turin. She gives a complete account of the last one and how she ran through the street in search of shelter, before trying to take cover under a bridge. She goes on to remember the sound of…
Interview with Eraldo Bessone
Eraldo Bessone (b. 1925) remembers the bombing of the Borgo San Paolo neighbourhood in Turin and how, due to the extensive damage it suffered, people started calling it the 'Stalingrad neighbourhood'. He also describes how the extensive damage led to…
Interview with Maria Caterina Siccardi
Maria Caterina Siccardi (b. 1924) remembers attending the funeral of a young soldier and her fear of being bombed. She also describes the makeshift shelter her grandfather built and how she rushed to take shelter in it every time an aircraft…
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 Lidia Fabris and Alfonso Fridiani
Lidia Fabris and Alfonso Fridiani remember 'Pippo'. Alfonso Fridiani recalls how his truck was saved from one of 'Pippo’s' attacks by a partisan. Lidia Fabris remembers the fear she felt when 'Pippo' fired off flares. She describes an incident in…
Interview with Piercarlo Debernardi
Piercarlo Debernardi (b. 1928) describes how his father built the family home next to the convent of La Visitazione in Turin, a house now considered a landmark in the city. He gives an account of wartime building regulations, stressing the…
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 Mirco Marelli
Mirco Marelli describes a bombing raid on the factory where he worked in 1941: when the alarm sounded, bombs started falling but he was too far from any of the shelters, so he and a friend took cover under a staircase. He highlights how shocking it…
Interview with Giovanni Monchiero
Giovanni Monchiero (b. 1923) gives a detailed account of his experience in labour camps in Germany: he started working at a train station, but it was bombed. He then moved to the Opel garage, but it was also bombed. He describes an occasion when,…
Interview with Mariannina Di Palma
Mariannina Di Palma (b. 1925) recalls the rush to safety when the air-raid siren sounded. She recalls that, on one occasion, she still had a dish cloth in her hand when she got to the shelter. Mariannina also remembers that her mother used to take…
Interview with Maria Grazia Camperi
Maria Grazia Camperi (b. 1923) recalls how people used to take shelter in railway tunnels, standing on narrow walkways along the track. She stresses how dangerous this was and recalls the sight of people being killed or mutilated by passing trains.…
Interview with Silvano Scarnicchia
Silvano Scarnicchia (b. 1925) recalls his first assignment as a soldier, when he was posted to an anti-aircraft battery, defending a bridge in Piacenza. He also recalls a lunch with high-ranking German officers and remembers the wartime dessert made…
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 Helga Cent-Velden
Helga Cent-Velden (b. 1926) recounts her life in Berlin, living under constant threat of bombing. She describes how her father tried to locate a suitable air raid shelter for the family and, especially, how he ruled out the Shell House because of a…
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…