I10 The wallet

Narrator: Andrea Pettenuzzo
Reporter: Giulia Durighel

My name is A. P., I am 91 year old, I live in Trevignano. In 1940, while I was at the front in the Calabrian region, in southern Italy, I was wounded in my knee.

After the recuperation I was sent to Yugoslavia. There I was taken prisoner and sent to work in a mine. The work was hard. The trolleys were worn out. When they carried the coal through the tunnels some of them went off the rails and I had to go and retrieve them. The Germans abandoned us because they had to move back: the Russians were advancing.

I worked at the Serbians’ command in a storehouse and in a stable where I learnt how look after a horse and how to shoe a horse.

At that time I was searched through by a soldier. He made me take off my shoes, he took my wallet, controlled the content and then he stole only my money. After that he gave me my wallet back and expected me to shake hands friendly. I refused; I could not shake hands with an enemy soldier who had just robbed me! I still keep that wallet.