Browse Items (629 total)
- Tags: home front
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Interview with Irmgard Schulz
Irmgard Schulz (b. 1935) describes how the harbour of Hamburg was a recurring target during the war. Mentions the use of target indicators and radar countermeasures. Explains how she was been told not to pick up anything, for fear it could be…
Interview with Alessandro Novellini
Alessandro Novellini (b. 1932) remembers the bombings of Turin and mentions different shelters in the city: the one in the basement of his house and the much bigger one at Piazza Risorgimento, built in 1943 when the tide of war was turning in favour…
Interview with Renato Maldarelli
Renato Maldarelli (b. 1937) describes the 1943 bombing of Naples. Remembers being woken up by the alarm, his mother wrapping him in a blanket and going down to a cold shelter. Doesn’t recall the fear of being buried alive under his collapsed home,…
Interview with Adriano Acquistucci
Adriano Acquistucci (b. 1927) remembers the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome. Upon the arrival of the Allies on 4 June 1944 describes how some felt liberated and others occupied. Mentions one of his friends as having “a hammer and…
Interview with Gianfranco Maffucci
Gianfranco Maffucci (b. 1930) remembers episodes of everyday life in wartime: bartering food, going into the shelter when the alarm sounded; men working in the factories while women going to market. Gives a detailed account of his neighbourhood:…
Interview with Angelo Cassia
Angelo Cassia (b. 1926) gives an account of the bombing of Turin in the summer of 1943. Mentions the use of a shelter in the basement until it became clear that it wouldn’t withstand a blast wave, therefore trapping the occupants inside. Describes…
Tags: bombing; civil defence; home front
Interview with Mario Cocco
Mario Cocco (b. 1938) remembers the torpedoing of the Tirso dam, emphasising its beauty and meaning as an engineering marvel. Describes how a torpedo net prevented three torpedoes from reaching their target. Gives a detailed account of the bombing of…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; home front
Interview with Anna Maria Sarno
Anna Maria Sarno (b. 1945) retells wartime hardships in the surroundings of Avellino. Mentions how her family took shelter in a railway tunnel and describes disrupted transport.
Tags: bombing; civil defence; home front
Interview with a survivor of the Villanova Marchesana bombings
The informant recalls how he moved from Libya to Italy and lived for some years in various camps in Napoli, Marina di Massa, Trento, San Remo and Massa Lombarda. He describes a three-day bombing raid in Napoli where he managed to hide in a church and…
Interview with Livio Ponte
Livio Ponte remembers his wartime life in Monfalcone. He describes the frightening moments when the alarm sounded, usually at night and people rushed to the shelters for safety. He mentions different attitudes: his parents going to a shelter whereas…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; evacuation; fear; home front; Pippo; shelter; shot down
Interview with Umberto Veroli
Umberto Veroli (b. 1933) recollects wartime memories when his father was an electrical engineer: living close to power substations; a kitten killed by an electric arc; Germans forcing workers to remove transformers and smash meters. He describes how…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; fear; home front
Interview with Osvaldo Gramegna
Osvaldo Gramegna (b. 1937) remembers the bombings of Turin. Mentions civilians initially fleeing along the railway during alarms and explains how, in hindsight, it was foolish behaviour. Anecdotes of his evacuee life at Casalgrasso: ineffective civil…
Interview with Efrem Colombi
Efrem Colombi recalls his care-free childhood, initially in the Bergamo countryside and then in Milan. Emphasises his life-long radical anti-Clericalism and recounts how he ran away several times from Catholic boarding schools because of his…
Interview with Vittorio Finauri
Vittorio Finauri (b. 1931) remembers the first bombing of Foligno on 22 November 1943. Explains that it was completely unexpected and people were caught unprepared, so bombs aimed at nearby barracks resulted in a heavy death toll. Describes how some…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; faith; home front
Interview with Mario Commisso
Mario Commisso remembers his early years when he lived in the Codroipo area, close to the Rivolto air base. Describes his brother being born on 28 February 1941 during a severe bombing raid during which the bombers were attacked by anti-aircraft fire…
Interview with Marina Zucco
Marina Zucco recalls wartime memories in Monfalcone: how her father rented a flat conveniently located above a shelter, in which they remained for hours eating food they had brought from home; the day the ‘all clear’ sounded immediately before a…
Interview with Angelo Bencina
Angelo Bencina recalls wartime memories in Monfalcone: a cave being modified as a shelter; the descent of bright red and white target indicators at night; a bomb which nearly missed him and didn’t explode; Window radio counter-measures being…
Interview with Paolo Vivoda
Paolo Vivoda remembers a bombing attack which started moments before the show of the stage magician Delfo, his mother barely made to the shelter and was injured, others died. Paolo lost contact with his parents, only for them to reappear two days…
Interview with Santina Colombo
Santina Colombo describes her early life in a family of farmers, her father a fervent socialist. She mentions the start of the war announced on the radio and gives a detailed account of civilian life in wartime Milan: scarce food, growing vegetables…
Interview with Antonio Bozzetti
Antonio Bozzetti (b. 1924) remembers the efforts to dodge fascist paramilitary service. Describes how he avoided being enlisted because he had a reserved occupation in a factory working for the Germans. Points out he witnessed all Milan bombings and…
Interview with Tino Luparia
Tino Luparia (b. 1930) chronicles the first daylight bombing of Turin which was aimed at the SPA industries, then a defence contractor. Describes the effects of a massive unexploded bomb which pierced all floors of a building and stopped immediately…
Tags: animal; bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; home front
Interview with Pietro Cosma
Pietro Cosma (b. 1927) remembers the bombings of Milan and recollects two wartime anecdotes: the execution of a man in front of his home and Benito Mussolini’s corpse on public display in Piazzale Loreto. Describes wartime hardships: losses; food…
Interview with Mario Miniussi
Mario Miniussi recalls the 18 March 1944 Monfalcone night bombing. He was sleeping when the siren sounded; then he saw the bombs falling on the shipyard among explosions and fires. Remembers how he was normally at school during alarms, so he and his…
Interview with Gualtiero Silvio Cosolo
Gualtiero Silvio Cosolo recalls attending the Ceriani vocational school in Monfalcone, at this time the air raid siren went off every day and the children would run to the nearest shelter. Describes the 7 March 1944 bombing and the gruesome sight of…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; home front; Pippo; Resistance; round-up; shelter
Interview with Federico Martinotti
Federico Martinotti reminisces over the Pavia bombing on the 26 September 1944. Describes the effects on the buildings near the Ticino River (the old bridge being the aiming point of the attack) and mentions the salvaging of valuable items from the…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; home front; Pippo