UDINE. He jealously keeps it in binders of transparent bags and shoe boxes. And he talks about it almost with modesty: unveiling that historical and emotional heritage of about 30 thousand “pieces” of war correspondence from the Russian front between postcards and letters is like exposing a part of oneself.
Andrea Miani, 54, from Buttrio, an employee of the Maico company, however, turns up his nose when they call him a collector: “It is a collection of paper testimonies of Italian soldiers circulated from July 1941 to May 1943, a collection that began when I had 14 years. As long as I can, I will continue to enrich it ».
Pieces of memory, scraps of real life, between journeys on translated, unexplored lands, comrades who have never returned. “None of my relatives went through that period. I only found out when I listened to the story of Countess Alda Vanni degli Onesti’s nephew, who lived in the village where I was born, Ronchiettis di Santa Maria La Longa. This young man had participated in the retreat from Russia, but no one wanted to tell what actually happened – he says -. So I decided to go deeper ».
The collection is the result of finds, casual encounters and purchases at the flea markets. Then the relatives of the fallen and missing and the veterans took care of increasing the amount of material. “Some of the writings are exhibited in the Cargnacco Shrine where the day of the Fallen and Lost in Russia is celebrated this morning: many, having discovered this passion of mine, have chosen to leave the memories of their relatives in custody – adds Andrea and squads a lined diary -. This – a daily report of those days – is by General of the Eighth Army Italo Gariboldi. It was his son Mario who gave it to me in the early nineties. I keep it as a relic ».
We move on to a letter. The original, in four sides, has a maximum of three corrections, the handwriting is neat and elegant. It is dated 21 August 1942. An officer, on a train passing through the territory of the former Poland, describes the landscape and feelings: “There is so much sadness in men and things, everything has the appearance of a derelict thing, struck by a great misfortune that only the centuries will be able to heal… This journey is strange, it takes place in such a peaceful, cordial and serene atmosphere that it does not seem to be heading towards war but to take a trip as a tourist ». Andrea points out: “The texts reveal the culture of the writer: the officer studied and uses grammar and vocabulary correctly, the soldier, on the other hand, sent very sparse messages and simple greetings”.
The material seems infinite. In a post card from the Armed Forces (“They were distributed every day to soldiers to stay in touch with their loved ones”) dated 7 May 1943, the sender, in the space intended for the recipient, writes: “To the Lieutenant whose name I no longer remember “. There is therefore a way and a brief explanation. Whoever sends the postcard is a sort of intermediary, a soldier carrying the message of an officer who has remained a prisoner in Russia who, unable to bear pafter the great effort, he had stopped “in a warm house” and had asked someone present to warn his family: “I turn with the hope of being able to fulfill one of his wishes. I hope with this to remove a heavy weight from the heads of those concerned. Rest assured that he will surely come back … ». That man, however, never returned to Udine.
The ending is for the most curious postcards, printed by the Pasubio division on the banks of the Dnepr river: “The Italian soldiers of the Chiaromonti column in 1941 – Andrea concludes – left without postcards, entered a printing house, recovered the Cyrillic characters and they are printed by themselves ».
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