Browse Items (335 total)

  • Tags: childhood in wartime

ANocchieriF170202.mp3
Franco Nocchieri recalls his early years as an orphan 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 his…

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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 recounts taking shelter from the bombs…

ACarterRH150629.mp3
Rob Carter was born in the village of Scampton and reminisces about his life on the land before the war. He recounts the foundation of RAF Dunholme Lodge, which his house overlooked. During the war, he served in the Auxiliary Fire Service. He was…

ABoschD150730.mp3
Dirk Bosch was eight years old when the German army occupied his home town of Amsterdam. In this interview he describes what life was like for him during this time. He refers to seeing Dutch Jews rounded up and deported. He describes the hunger of…

Memoro#1818.mp3
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…

MemoroDE#14947.mp3
Gerda Gentner (b. 1934) recalls the first bombing of Dresden on 7 October 1944. Gerda describes how she unsuccessfully tried to persuade a young boy to take shelter with her in the basement and reminisces her feeling when she knew that he had died…

Memoro#10169.mp3
Agnes Stocker (b. 1932) recounts her evacuation from her hometown and the journey to Ueckermünde. Agnes tells how she get separated from her sister, her brother and her cousin (who followed the road to Swinemünde), while she, her mother and her…

Memoro#1031.mp3
Brigitte Terboven (b. 1930) recalls the bombing of Essen and the dropping of an air mine by a British bomber which was trying to evade a German night fighter. The bomb hit the ground about 20 meters from her home which collapsed like a house of…

Memoro#15496.mp3
Jörg Funfoff (b. 1942) recounts the experience of being a young boy at Heiligensee, a Berlin suburb; on the flying path of approaching bombers. Narrates how he was the first to hear the bombers approaching before they are in sight (a fact he was…

Memoro#15628.mp3
Jaun Schauerte (b. 1936) recalls rushing to the shelter with a suitcase and a bag pack. Remembers one night when his grandmother fell under the heavy weight of the rucksack and nobody stopped to help her. Recalls the Bremen bombing, while he was…

Memoro#4898.mp3
Margarete Meyer (b. 1936) describes the 13 February 1945 Dresden bombing and recounts how her mother reacted to the alarm. She rushed to the shelter and took some belongings, including what she thought was her confirmation dress. Explains how her…

Memoro#1546.mp3
Christoph Wagner Brausewetter (b. 1929) recounts the hardships civilians endured inside a shelter, the risks involved and the fact they spent there more time there than at home. Maintains that the worst year was 1943, when aircraft were no longer…

Memoro#4243.mp3
Maria Domanovszky (b. 1937) recounts how she threw herself into a swampy ditch when under fire and how she lay down praying and hoping to get back home safely. Describes German soldiers with torn and dirty uniforms escaping from a burning forest.…

Memoro#1722.mp3
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, they rushed to take…

Memoro#4420.mp3
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 day. He also describes the rush to safety during another bombing, and…

Memoro#5523.mp3
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…

Memoro#12241.mp3
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…

Memoro#12791.mp3
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 also the sight of dying civilians.

Memoro#15131.mp3
Matteo Basso (b. 1934) recalls his diet 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 close to…

Memoro#888.mp3
Margherita Franco (b. 1934) describes how an unexploded bomb was found in the garden of their house. Mentions technical terms she learned at that time and describes how her father resorted to the Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea bomb disposal…

PFilliputtiA16010082.jpg
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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PFilliputtiA16010090.jpg
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…

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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. Describe the postwar period…

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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 …

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Rosanna Giungi (b. 1933) describes how Pippo disrupted daily life in wartime, affecting especially those close to the Modena-Brennero and Modena-Verona railway lines. Reminisces the sight of Germany-bound trains packed with people desperately asking…
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