I12 A war story

Narrator: Carmela Crespan
Reporter: Liliana Bittoto

During the Second World War, there was a time when the Germans had occupied Villa Emo and had established their headquarters inside; actually the villa, which is near the railway, was a strategic point for the control of the area.

Around the villa there was the soldiers' camp with a kitchen and other facilities in the tents. When they needed help for the cleaning, they asked the families nearby for girls to help. It was my aunt Carmela's turn. She was 22 years old. She was very beautiful, plump, blonde and she looked like a German. She was already engaged with Lorenzo, a boy from a village nearby ("Zapparè di Trevignano"). Lorenzo, called by the people "Nino", had deserted and he was helping the partisans of this area. For these reasons he could go and see my aunt only at night and secretly with the risk of being found.

A handsome sergeant, called Hans, tall and blonde, fell in love with Carmela, and on the excuse of getting through things in the laundry and kitchen of the camps, he always looked for her. Some days before the Germans' retreat the sergeant Hans, informed about what would happen, asked my aunt Carmela to go with him to Germany. She refused his love declaration and for some days her brother hid her every time Hans looked for her.

The sergeant was forced to leave Italy without Carmela, who married Lorenzo just at the end of the war.