“I’ve seen so many, I never imagined surviving a pandemic and seeing war again, in the heart of Europe.”
Marisa Belloni, 90, grew up on bread and ink in her father Arnaldo’s Modern Typographywhich he then managed for 10 years.
What strikes you?
“The frightened eyes of children fleeing the war in Ukraine are a blast from the past, a shiver.”
What do you remember?
“The images on TV and in the newspapers make me relive the anguish I felt between 1943 and 1945. When it all started I was 12, I understood the drama that was upsetting our lives.”
What happened to you?
“Dad worked as a printer at the Gazzetta di Parma, he fled in 1922 a few hours before being arrested by the fascist militia. He found refuge and work here in Nice, founding the typography with two partners. Uncle Aldo fled from Milan when the bombing began. He arrived in Nice with his wife Zita and 3 children, Stefano 4 years old, Stefania 2 years old and Antonio 9 months old ».
Families fleeing the bombs, yesterday as today
«My heart cries when I see the children running away with a puppet in their arms. It’s like seeing the eyes of the little cousins housed in the house again. We shared the few things we had. With the ration card we could take the ration of bread for our family, dad, mom, me and my sister. It had to be enough for everyone. The printing house worked very little, there was no money to buy at the black market. The hunger was so great ».
Your dad and your uncle?
«Aldo was in contact with the Garibaldini, my father printed the underground newspapers“ La Terra ”and“ La Vedetta Garibaldina ”. One day I went into the printing house while they were hiding the prints in a burlap sack. My father gave me a slap, the only one in my life. I understood in the evening ».
What Happened?
«It was 1945, around nine in the evening a German command, accompanied by an Italian who acted as interpreter, entered the house with machine guns leveled. After pointing a weapon at my father, they locked themselves in a room with him. They questioned him to exhaustion, threatening to blow his brains out in front of his wife and daughters. I will never forget that terror ».
Uncle Aldo?
«He was captured near Nice, in the Barca region, today a hamlet of Ponteverde. When they told us I was in via Carlo Alberto with my mother. A heart attack. The last sign of life was a postcard with the Bolzano stamp thrown from the train to Mauthausen. Carlo Laiolo tells about it in the book “Death in the throat.” He arrived at the camp on 11 January, registration number 1.15372. He was transferred to the Gusen concentration camp, he passed through the chimney on February 18, 1945 ».
What was the life of children like during the war?
“We used to go to school when there were no alarms. In winter, we used to carry stones heated on the stove in our pockets to defrost our hands. When I see pictures of Ukraine under the snow, I feel chilblains, now as then. I would like to help but I no longer have the strength, I joined the fundraising promoted by Sermig ».
What does it say to the students?
«I grew up in the midst of culture, between the lathe of 1874 and the cylindrical flat printing machine of 1911. For my father, dedication to work was a fixed point as was the defense of freedom, justice and the weakest. I tell the boys this ».