I5 Purging operations

Narrator: Maria Milani Reporters: Roberta Cecchetto, Martina Ventura

My name is Milani Maria and my story dates back to the year 1939, the year of the mopping-up operations, when German soldiers entered house by house taking women, children etc.

One day they went into my house, I was only twelve years oId, but I managed to hide myself in the attic inside a cupboard. I had three brothers, two of them were taken and the third one hid in a bedroom, so they didn’t see him. My two brothers were taken on a goods waggon for cattle which was going to Germany, to the prison-camps.

Suddenly the train was assaulted by many people from the surrounds, most of them were relatives of the prisoners and many people succeeded in escaping and hiding in the rural area of Conegliano. They managed to go home through the fields, despite of the difficulties and the lack of food.