La Strada Da Seguire: The Road to Follow

by Susan Toscan

  During this time, a resistance movement was growing in Italy. It was a primarily underground movement that would become known as the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale—the National Liberation Committee. The CLN was working to undermine the Fascists and Nazis and had gradually built a strong following since its inception.

  It was extremely dangerous for a person to belong to the partisan movement, and the CLN’s meetings were therefore very covert. If caught, CLN members and their families would be imprisoned or executed to deter others from speaking out against Fascism. At the end of the war, it was estimated that over 40,000 partisans had been killed.

  The determination of these brave people to get their message across to the Italian public against all odds was well documented. The CLN produced printed material and held secret meetings to try to keep people informed of the danger that surrounded them. The group became highly organised, and as it expanded its activities, it aligned itself with other underground groups operating throughout Italy. As the war continued, the partisan movement grew in strength as soldiers and ordinary citizens turned to the CLN to band together against the Nazis and Fascists.

  However, the partisans were still not reaching Italy’s entire population with their message. There were still those who were somehow, through all of the confusion, convinced by Mussolini and believed that he was a worthy hero. He had gained control and influence over the Italian people by playing on their insecurities and by using force and fear as well as strict control of the media. The working-class people had initially accepted his promises, but evidence of his misguided beliefs began to undermine any trust that he had gained.

  The CLN was largely based in many of the towns in northern Italy and in the Apennine and Dolomite mountain ranges. The underground movement formed most of its groups in these mountain areas to maximise the groups’ ability to hide from the enemy and then strike at them when they least expected it.

  The partisans lived in camps and moved often in order to avoid detection. The various resistance groups were kept up to date by specialised teams of men and women—most of whom had been trained by the German army when they were forced to fight with them during the initial stages of the war. These people would travel between the groups, delivering news and information. Most importantly, they were able to offer training in guerrilla warfare and the various tactics that the partisans needed to survive under these extremely difficult circumstances.

  Some of the women in the camps were wives of the partisan soldiers and were there to make sure that the men were fed and looked after. Other women were there to fight. Most of them had lost family members at the hands of the Fascists and Nazis. They had seen their fathers and brothers die and watched as their mothers were raped, screaming for their daughters to run and hide. Often, when they returned to their villages, they would find their homes burnt to the ground and no trace remaining of their families. Many of the female partisan soldiers felt that they no longer had anything left to live for. They had been made to feel powerless, and they needed to regain some control over their lives; they wanted to fight alongside the men. They would do whatever they could to prevent the Fascists and the Germans from winning this war.

  These atrocities would happen very frequently and in every village. In many cases, families who were totally innocent of any crimes against the enemy were brutalised. The result was total terror. The very brave members of these small communities who continued to support the partisans did so at great risk.

  Conditions in the partisan camps were very primitive. Even cooking fires were used sparingly; the partisans took no chances that might alert enemy soldiers to their positions. They generally tried to stay reasonably close to the villages as their supporters were able to assist with the provision of weapons, food and, in the colder months, warm clothing, which was very important to their survival.

  The villages were also where the partisans could gain information about where the enemy armies were located, which allowed them to be strategic about planning their attacks. They had a limited supply of weapons, and they had to make sure that those weapons were used to the very best advantage.

  Many Italian men were being forced to fight with the German army. Soldiers marching into small communities and taking men and youths at gunpoint were an all too common sight; the men were threatened that if they refused to fight with the army, they would be hanged in the street. This horrific scenario took place many times, much to the shock and lasting horror of the villagers. The people were ruled by fear, and they had no choice but to look on, unresisting, as their young men were led away to a fate they could never accept or understand.

  Some of those taken were still boys, and very few had any military training. The majority were farmers, and most of them had not even seen a gun or rifle before. Growing up in the remote villages of northern Italy, they did not understand the politics of the time. The average person in Italy certainly did not comprehend, for example, the hatred towards Jews that seemed to fuel Hitler’s rise to power in Germany.

  Italy: Taken by

  the German army

  Alessandro Messera was the youngest of four brothers and two sisters. He had worked with his brothers and father on his family’s small farm near Cavaso since he was very young. His mother, Idelma, had been unwell for most of his life, and he worried about her constantly.

  Alessandro’s brothers bullied him and were always telling him what to do, and he was sick of it. As he got older, he was determined to find a way to earn money so that one day he could go to Australia to live with his Uncle Frank. He wanted a better life. The Second World War had begun and he did not know what that would mean for the future of Italy. Europe had only just started to show signs of recovery after the last war.

  When he turned 16 in 1940, he had made the decision to work in the coal mine about an hour away from his village. As there was not enough money to be made from the farm, two of his brothers had already left and were employed there, and Alessandro was determined to show them that he could work as hard as they could.

  He did not have many friends in the village. He had only gone to school until he was 14, as had most of the boys in the area. However, there was someone he was close to and whom he had known for most of his life as their families were friends. She was a young girl by the name of Savina Cattuzzo. Although she was three years younger than him, they had a special friendship, and Alessandro enjoyed looking out for her.

  It was early 1943 when Alessandro and many other young men were forced to join the German army. German officers had arrived unannounced at the coal mine where Alessandro was working and told all the men and boys to follow them. The workers could not return to their homes to say goodbye to their families or collect their belongings.

  Alessandro’s first instinct was to run and hide. He wished that his brothers were still there, but they had gone to join the army months before. Even though they had not been forced at gunpoint, they were not given a choice about fighting and had decided that it was better to go sooner rather than later.

  Alessandro did not want to fight; he did not want anything to do with a war he did not understand or believe in. The memory of those German soldiers marching up to the mine would stay in Alessandro’s mind all of his life. At first he thought that the soldiers were just passing by, but it quickly became apparent that they were there to take all the workers with them. It was terrifying.

  The mine loudspeakers could be heard for miles. “All workers are to come to the surface at once.” Once the confused mineworkers had stepped out of the lifts or climbed to the top of the ladders, they were assembled in front of the officers. Orders were shouted at them in German, and then another soldier, who was Italian, translated to the site manager. The site manager tried to stall for time, but he was pushed to the ground and had a rifle pointed at his head. When one worker tried to run, he was shot, the sound echoing throughout the surrounding mountain range. It was obvious that this situation was extremely serious, and all the men accepted th
eir fate as they realised that resisting would be futile.

  Alessandro was a solid young man—he was six feet tall, and even though he was only 19, and had only worked at the mine for a few years, he was strong from all his years of hard work on the farm. Nevertheless, he felt very small and insignificant in the presence of the soldiers. He hated this feeling of helplessness.

  When Alessandro’s family received the news that he had been taken by the Germans, they were devastated. His mother wept, unable to come to terms with the fact that her youngest son had been taken away; they were all afraid that they would never see him again.

  Alessandro’s sister Natalina went to tell Savina what had happened to her brother. Savina was in shock.

  Alessandro’s father wrote to tell Frank of his son’s fate.

  Dearest Frank,

  I write with distressing news. Alessandro has been taken by the German army. Now all three of my boys are fighting for the Fascists. He and all the men working at the mine at Bassano were taken at gunpoint. We did not even get to say goodbye.

  Giuseppe and Pasquale went months ago, they did not have a choice either. Franco, our eldest is still with us and of course Adriano with his chest problems is not well enough. Hopefully, they will most likely be left to help with the farm, at least we hope so. We thought that ­Alessandro would be able to wait a bit longer and with any luck the war would end before he had to go. That was not to be. We do not know where the boys are and we despair for them. We do hope that they will return to see us soon. We keep praying. Life continues to be difficult here, but we are battling on. We have been told to expect the German officers to take over our village and even our homes. This is too much. We do not know what to do. My wife is not coping.

  It is good that you and your family are well away from here my brother.

  Your loving brother, Renzo

  Italy: Alessandro and Savina

  Growing up together in and around Cavaso, Alessandro and Savina would see each other every Sunday at mass. Savina would always wait for Alessandro to arrive with his family before she would go into the church, and she would try to sit behind the young man so that she could see his profile. He was very handsome. His hair was dark, wavy and very thick, his complexion was like that of a Southern Italian. He looked like he always had a really good suntan. He had deep blue eyes and strong chiselled cheekbones, and his eyes were mischievous; he always seemed to be planning some practical joke.

  Savina’s little brother Giovanni loved Alessandro. Whenever they were together, Giovanni would insist on riding on the young man’s shoulders. Savina knew that Alessandro had a real soft spot for her little brother, and she loved the fact that her little brother looked up to her friend.

  After hearing the news, Savina tried to explain to a 10-year-old Giovanni that they would not see Alessandro again for what could be a very long time.

  “I don’t understand why he didn’t even come to say goodbye to us. That’s not like him, Savina. I don’t want him to go away.”

  “Nor do I, little man. Alessandro would not have wanted to leave without saying goodbye to us, but he wasn’t allowed to come home. We have to pray that he’ll come back soon.”

  From the look on Giovanni’s face, Savina knew that he was not happy with her explanation. She too was devastated by the news that Alessandro had been forced to go with the Fascists to fight in the war that he hated so much.

  While Alessandro was in training with the German army, which was stationed near Treviso, he was allowed home on a few occasions to see his family. Such visits were always permitted with the implied warning that, should he not return, the Germans knew where his family lived. Alessandro would also visit Savina, and Giovanni was happy that he had finally got the chance to say goodbye to Alessandro.

  Savina took the opportunity to express her fears to her friend. “Alessandro, I don’t understand what will happen now that you have to fight with the German army. How far away will they take you? Will you be able to come back to Cavaso?”

  “I am really not sure, bella. We haven’t been told where we’re going, but I fear that it will be a long way from here. You are not to worry. I will get back when I can,” Alessandro tried to reassure her. “In the meantime, you have to take care of yourself—and your brother and sisters, of course. You have to promise to stay out of trouble.”

  Shortly after that visit, Savina’s father’s house was taken over by three German officers. This was a common practice. Many of the families in the village had to make room for the occupying soldiers. They gave up the main rooms of their homes for the Germans, with the families often living in a single room and sometimes in the barn, which was attached to the house. The families were often treated as servants, providing meals for the German soldiers and cleaning their clothes.

  Savina’s family—which consisted of her father Antonio, her stepmother Paula, her two sisters Olga and Gigetta, and her brother Giovanni—were lucky as the Germans who lived in their house were kind people. The officers treated the family fairly and made sure that everyone had food, even when food supplies were hard to get. They sometimes even had chocolate treats for the children. These men had families of their own in Berlin, and they did not like to see innocent people being unduly hurt by the fallout of the war. They regretted the heavy-handed tactics used by the German soldiers to recruit the young men of the villages, but they knew that the men would not fight with them by choice. They were as much victims of the situation created by Hitler and Mussolini as the Italian people were.

  Because Antonio and his family seemed to be treated so well by the officers who lived in their house while other families were treated badly, some members of the small community were very jealous. This jealousy was out of character for the villagers of Cavaso, but these were difficult times, and living in constant fear made people act differently. Antonio and his family were aware that they were better off than most, and they tried to share the few benefits that they received—usually food, but sometimes warm clothes as well.

  One day, a village boy standing in the square with a group of his friends called out as Antonio was passing, “Look at Antonio—because of his three pretty daughters, he has plenty to eat!”

  This speculation horrified Antonio. He loved his children, and he would die rather than have his daughters be taken advantage of by anyone. Antonio walked up very close to the group and shook his fist angrily. “You speak rubbish! The German officers in our house look out for my family because they are good people. Not all Germans are bad. They’re just like us, caught up in a situation not of their making. We should not let this war divide our community; we should be supporting each other. I don’t want to hear any more of that nonsense.”

  The youths were defiant at first, but some other members of the Cavaso community were close by and joined Antonio in reprimanding them. The boys left, but they were still looking for trouble and wanted to take their frustrations out on someone. They decided they needed an easier target.

  Such ill-informed, jealous people often targeted Savina because she was such an attractive girl, with her long, blonde, curly hair, which framed her beautiful face and complemented her piercing blue eyes. She was totally unaware of her beauty and the impact that she had on others. Savina would often ride through the village on her bicycle, and although she would be dressed in the plainest clothes, with her hair tied in a kerchief, every head would turn to look at her.

  Her father was not surprised that she was singled out for taunting, but he was afraid for her at the same time. Everyone knew that the village boys who were still too young to fight were misbehaving because of the unsettling turmoil and violence and the lack of discipline resulting from so many of the older men being away. In their frustration, the boys looked for trouble. They would stand in the village square and hurl abuse at Savina and her sisters as the girls walked past.

  The boys would accuse them of offering sexual favours to the German officers. The girls were generally too innocent to respond to thes
e insults, but this behaviour by their fellow villagers made them very frightened; their world had become a dangerous place for more reasons than just the war that raged around them.

  They had seen so many changes since the Germans had come to their usually peaceful village, and they were confused as to why they were being blamed in some way. Their father had told his girls to ignore the comments and to always stay together. Savina would get very angry with the village boys when they said stupid things.

  “You are all idiots, and you do not know what you are talking about, so leave us alone!” she would yell at them.

  A week or so after Alessandro had last visited Savina, the local priest announced that the community would be holding a rare social function in the church hall to try to give the village youth something positive to do. It sounded like it would be fun, and most of the young people attended.

  The small group of restless, trouble-causing boys started to make rude comments to the village girls, and when the girls ignored them as usual, the boys got angry. They wanted to show that they were not children, and they were sick of the girls laughing at them for being too young to go and fight with the older boys.

  The boys’ first mistake was to lock the church hall doors to show that they had some power over the situation once everyone was inside. The girls had gathered together in the middle of the hall and were discussing the music they wanted to play on the record player; giggling and smiling, they were starting to enjoy each other’s company. Frustrated that the girls had not even noticed the locked doors, the boys started to become aggressive, shouting at the girls that they intended to shave their heads. They pushed their stupidity even further when they attempted to make the girls take off their dresses and parade around in their petticoats.