Farewell to Ermes Zaina, the partisan “Rizzo”

He was 96 years old and was one of the last witnesses of the Osoppo Brigade. He fought on the front line in the Lower Friuli area

SAN GIORGIO DI NOGARO

Farewell to the last partisan from Sangiorgino. “Rizzo” Ermes Zaina, who was 96 years old, died last Wednesday in his house in San Giorgio di Nogaro: he was one of the last witnesses of the Osoppo Brigade. A widower for some time, he leaves his children Ester and Dino and his niece Giulia.

“Rizzo” Ermes Zaina, was born in Porpetto in 1925 and belonged to the “Cichin” family, a nickname that was given to the family to distinguish it from the many others with the same surname present in the municipality. However, he always called himself sangiorgino.

He proudly emphasized that his anti-fascist conviction derived from the teachings and words of his father, an anti-fascist who had never taken the fascist card. So at 19 he had decided to join the Osoppo partisan formation with the battle name “Rizzo”. He became the foreman of the “San Giorgio” battalion under the orders of Italo Zaina (“Nullo”), also a sangiorgino, then he commanded the “Villa” Battalion. All his activity as a fighter saw him operating in the Lower Friuli area.

A reserved person, however, he loved to remember those years to those who went to visit him in his house in San Giorgio di Nogaro, such as his researcher friend, Giorgio Cojaniz, to whom he told how “already at the beginning of April 1945, it was understood that by now Fascists and Germans were preparing for a hasty flight, but they still continued to occupy the whole of Friuli. Finally, in the first days of May everything was over and, even in San Giorgio, it was possible to celebrate the liberation. On the streets we began to see many vehicles of the allied troops and on the sides of the roads the population finally celebrating ».

On his enlistment in the partisan forces he remembered the reasons that had pushed him to that choice, stating that he never regretted it, despite the dangers he ran into.

“In the postwar period, slowly and inexorably – he remarked -, historical memory has completely vanished, starting with the error of not teaching what the wars and tragedies wanted by fascism were and what the Resistance represented, of which we want to magnify marginal episodes that in no way affect the vastness and complexity of the movement. Resistance that drew its foundations from true values, from very strong ideals that strongly tended to victory over Nazi-Fascism, aiming at the creation of a freer and fairer world in a peaceful climate of coexistence, finally “democratic” ».

“After the war – continued in the story” Rizzo “- everyone had returned to their ranks to resume normal work (he first in the bank and then an economic consultant) and I remember that for some who had joined the Communist Party, life was not easy, despite the fact that they believed they had fully acquired the right to freedom for all. In our cemeteries we should remember with gratitude the protagonists of that struggle which has given us that indispensable good which is freedom ». –