In the massacre, which cost the lives of 560 people, one of the darkest pages in history, the mother and two other sisters of Pardini, Maria and Anna, died. She was the smallest victim of the massacre: she was just twenty days old. Now she too has disappeared, Cesira Pardini, one of the last survivors of the Nazi-Fascist massacre of Sant’Anna di Stazzema, in the Versilian hinterland. She was 96 years old. Cesira Pardini was awarded the gold medal for civil merit for having saved, at the age of 18, that tragic 12 August 1944, her two little sisters, Adele and Lilia and another child.
The mayor of Stazzema, Maurizio Verona, gave the news of the disappearance. “I learned the news of the disappearance of another survivor of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema massacre,” writes the mayor on facebook. “A warm hug to her family, and a huge thank you to Cesira for being an ambassador of Peace and Memory,” adds the mayor.
At the time of the massacre Cesira Pardini lived with her father Federico, mother Bruna and eight brothers and sisters. She was the eldest. On 12 August, early in the morning, it was Cesira who first noticed the arrival of soldiers. She recalled in a testimony how together with the SS there were other soldiers with a sort of retina lowered on the visa: «They pushed us against the wall, with terrible blows. With me there was mom with my little sister Anna of 20 days, Adele of 4, Maria of 16 and Lilia of 10. They shot the mother who fell on me and died. They had hit me too and the pain was tremendous. As I fell, I bumped into a door that hadn’t been locked. It was the cellar and I managed to grab Adele, Lilia and Maria. We remained there as if paralyzed, I don’t know for how long, but I felt that the fire was devouring the house and we were in danger of being burnt to death. We ran away. The Germans saw us and fired again. Then silence. My little sister Anna was dying. She died after a week of agony. The smallest victim of the massacre. Maria died too ».
When she was called to trial in La Spezia before the military tribunal for the massacre, she also said that her mother holding the youngest of her daughters in her arms implored the soldiers to have mercy: «My mother was against the wall, with Anna in her arms. At least have mercy on this creature, she screamed. That one, was an Italian, took out his revolver and pointed it at his head. Mom just had time to tell us to save ourselves, to escape. The bottom door has opened. I took the Adele, the Lilia, I threw in the Maria, who was all in pieces. Her arm fell off, she had one leg off. They continued to strafe from all sides, and we were motionless, in silence… ».