Eyewitness Testimony Gino Gattari

1 Gattari Gino born in Tolentino in 1925, rounded up in Tolentino on 29.4.1944, deported to Kahla. Interviewed by a student of the V M in January 2002.Good evening, are you Mr.? Look, I don’t hear well. Your name? Gattari Gino. If you want to tell us about your experience. I was rounded up and then taken to the Sforzacosta concentration camp, then from the Sforzacosta camp they took me to Florence. Along the journey, we were strafed, and then in Florence they told us we were going to work, but instead we found an inscription in front of the barracks that said: ITALIAN VOLUNTEERS COLLECTION CENTER FOR GERMANY. We spent 6 days there. Then they transferred us and took us to Suzzara. In Suzzara we stayed another 6-7 days and there was a priest who made us confess, take communion, and then we would go to Germany. The next day they took us away, actually he showed us a film in the evening about where we were going, and he said “you have to go there, do your duty.” He gave a nice sermon and then they took us away. We traveled for three days to get there and we got off the train chained, locked inside, inside the cattle car wagon, and from there they took us to Niedercross. In Niedercross we stayed a few days without work, without anything, we stayed together and then they took us to Kahla. In Kahla there was a barrack and they put us there, we were 25, each barrack 25, and then there they assigned each of us where we had to go, what we had to do, they told us what work we did at home and so there they assigned each of us to a place; we were 25 men and they assigned us to make the platforms for the barracks. In one lager we made 7, we were many men and the company was the Fa Otto company; then there were other companies that always worked for this one. We were 25 in each barrack, in each team, and we had a chef, a boss who kept us under observation and then there we had to work with shovel and pickaxe, the wheelbarrow, carry away the earth and make these platforms, then those who mounted the barracks arrived, the beams arrived, the wooden panels, they assembled them and then as the prisoners arrived, they brought them there: Russians, Ukrainians, French, of all kinds. I know we had to make 7 lagers, many, many! And so we spent quite a lot of time there doing this work. As for food, at first they gave little, then almost nothing, they no longer gave us anything. At noon they gave us food and there was an hour of rest, but they didn’t actually give us food. So one time three or four of us left and went around the kitchen to see if there was something to eat and we went picking up potato peels, orange peels and then it struck one o’clock, but we didn’t know what time it was, we didn’t have a watch. The SS passed by, they came and asked us what we were doing, why we weren’t working and we told them it was noon, they showed us the watch and it was one, then they told us to go with them and took us in front of that kitchen. They took us there and then told the SS chief that we weren’t working. They put us there, pulled out the wolf dogs from inside and then beat us, beat us a lot and then let us go and we left. One of the three comrades who had gone with us had the dogs set on him, they tore him all up and bit him. And then we went back to work, from morning to evening always the same. Another time we left work to go find food. We crossed a forest and went to a field. The farmers had planted potatoes there, and we shamelessly ate because there was nothing to eat. A forest ranger saw us and when we saw him with the rifle, we ran towards the forest and he started shooting, he shot at us and we stopped. We stopped and he asked where we worked “at the lager with the Faotto company” - I answered -. He took us away with him and made us go back to the place where we had started and there was a small shack where we kept the tools, there was the chef, the boss there who gave us the tools. He took us there and, not even after a quarter of an hour, the police arrived, he called them and the police arrived and then they really gave it to us: 21 lashes they gave us and first they made you lift your shirts and then put a stool on you like this (with the belly facing down on the stool), many times. One time we even escaped to go find food. There was a village, it was almost noon there, eleven; we escaped, we went to find food in the village. The women didn’t give us anything anymore because we were many, they started throwing stones at us, they took whips and chased us away. A policeman caught me and said: "What are you doing?" “I’m going to get food.” He kicked me in the legs, then slapped me and off. And then always like that, there was no food, we went arm in arm, close together because otherwise the ground was slippery with frost, with all broken clogs, if one fell, we all fell to the ground and no one could hold the other up because we barely held on ourselves. And then March came, April - I don’t remember exactly what day it was - on one side you could hear the Americans arriving and on the other side the Russians. There was a camp, a place where the borders met and then they gathered us all, many but not all, because a few hid, they took us away. Walking from evening to morning, at night we always walked, 2 days and 2 nights we walked continuously and, on this long journey, near a river we found a team of Ukrainians who had been machine-gunned and so they made us walk. On this journey, at this time, the Germans left us there, left us near a river and said: "in two hours we leave again." And I said to my friend: "now it’s over, right?” And we threw ourselves down like that and fell asleep, all asleep we lay there, this was late evening and all night we stayed there, it had rained, it had frozen. We woke up in the morning and saw that it was daylight and the Germans were no longer there, they had left us, abandoned us. We started to spread out and go looking, there were ditches on the roads and there was a little door, that door underground, we opened this door and there were chard, turnips, those things and we started to eat, those! We were many, we were 800! A moment came when it started to get late and we started to move away, there was a village, a village and all of us there to find food and then these people gathered us all and seeing that we were many, they gave us a little to eat: some milk, some potatoes, some a slice of bread. And so, after lunch, they gathered us...They all gathered there. The leaders of this village took a rifle, gathered all of us there, and with 2 or 3 nuns, monks, I don’t know, they were nuns, they set up a kitchen there and gave us soup, with a few bowls they gave us food. They gathered all of us there and made us eat, then we all set off again along the roads and through the fields without anyone escaping because all the peasants were behind us with rifles, and they made us walk a lot. Then there were those who broke away from the squad, from this squadron, and if the peasants saw you, they shot you and killed you all. We walked on, and when we came across a road leading to a small village, some slipped away in one direction, some in another, and these peasants began to slacken and give us less and less. Then there was a big village, I don’t know which one it was, a village that had a tobacco factory, cigarettes. I know that only a few of us remained and we went to this village. We stayed there 3 or 4 days, a few days... We went asking for food but no one gave us any, cigarettes, they offered cigarettes, cigarettes because there was the factory with tobacco, cigarettes. But we lacked food, we were very hungry. We left, went around this village, there was a big shed, a big shed, and we asked the women we met if there was anyone there, and they said there were many people, prisoners. They said: “Go there, there is food!” We arrived in front of it, there was a pile of straw and under this straw were the dead, you could see the legs of the dead. We saw at the gate, inside everyone was crying, women, children, Russians, Ukrainians, all of them! There were many, they had gathered them all there and gave them little food to keep them calm, to keep them there, those poor Christians were dying. And instead of going inside, we ran away, we managed to escape and kept walking, we were 29, and we arrived at a place called Francesbad - I think Francesbad - and there you could hear the front, the front was coming from one side only. From the side we had left, you could hear the front coming after us, but we didn’t know if they were Russians or Americans and we stopped there, we stopped, we slept one night at a peasant’s place, he had a Polish worker who worked there with the peasant and he told us: "Italians, come with me, come with me here.” He let us in, let us sleep inside a horse stable, with the horses there, and in the morning he gave us some potatoes. We stayed there a few days and then we went to sleep in a straw shed, a rye straw shed, we slept there. In the morning we came down from this shed, we had some bundles, a suitcase of stuff we kept there. Suddenly: TA TA TA, with a burst of machine gun fire they set fire to this thing, they set fire to this shed. Then, from there, the Americans arrived, we saw them coming and we went to the peasant where we had slept that night to ask if we could sleep there. Few of us remained but we were a few. We stayed inside, the Polish man who worked with the worker called us and let us sleep in the shed where the horses were, inside the hayloft, and all night the Americans arrived, BUM BUM BUM, tiles fell, the horses went WOOOO (they were frightened), we all cried. In the morning the Polish man came to open to take care of the animals, the horses, and told us: “Italians, Italians, the Americans are coming.” He clapped his hands! (Gino is very emotional, crying and struggling to speak). He made us leave the shed and there was not a single German soul to be seen. He brought us potatoes to eat and then took us outside the fence of his enclosure and we looked and there were the Americans. These Americans welcomed us. They knew there were prisoners and these soldiers gave us crackers, jam, cigarettes. We were freed there but stayed a few more days, the Americans took us. We were 29 and there were also black Americans from the United States and they made us work a few days in the kitchen with them and took us to a place that was a gymnasium of the Germans and we slept there about 20 days. Then [...] the Americans gathered us, there were many prisoners scattered there, they grouped them in a concentration camp. There they loaded us onto trucks and took us to a town, Pise, Pize. There was a big German barracks and all these prisoners: many Poles, Italians; we were 12,000. They gave us food and from that camp they sent people back home. 1000 left every day from that camp, a thousand Poles, a thousand Italians. Every day a train left with 1000 people, repatriating them. Then it was our turn; we left and it was hard also at the border when the Americans took us, we had a hard time, but always hungry. After being freed we began to recover a bit; when we worked in the kitchen a few days, but... So May 23 came, we were freed on May 23 - I think -. Then we stayed in that camp, as I told you, there were many of us and they took us away and I came home on July 29. We left on July 29 and took the train but it took us 5 days to get home by train because it stopped, the lines were all broken, all damaged. We arrived in Verona, got off and took another train that took us to Loreto. We always walked by luck. Here in Loreto we found a comrade who worked with the Americans, with the English, those who were here, who worked with trucks. He served with them and we asked him if he could take us to Tolentino; there were many of us from Tolentino, I don’t remember how many, maybe 18, and he took us here to Tolentino and from here we went home on foot. We walked all night. I returned home after all this time without knowing anything about my family, nor did my family know anything about me. I arrived home at midnight. Everything went well. It was hard, but I am happy because I brought my skin home. Many comrades stayed there. Many died and when they died they made us carry them near the bathroom, along the roads, and then until there were 17 they left them there, then a truck arrived with coffins and put them in the coffin and then put them on the truck and when they took them away, they put them in a ditch, opened the coffins and threw them out and...They kept taking the crates back, always using those and going to pick up others where they had adjusted the load. We were all comrades, in the evening we stayed together and in the morning they died. We looked at them and said: "Now it's my turn." And instead, it went like this.We wanted to ask you 5 or 6 more specific questions that we needed for the work, if you want to answer us. How were you rounded up? GINO: I was rounded up at the livestock market here in Tolentino, I was selling piglets with my father with a cart, the fascists arrived and stopped me, they asked me what class I was, everything, and they took me to Sforzacosta. I stayed in Sforzacosta for 17-18 days and then they took us away from there. I had escaped from the Sforzacosta concentration camp in the evening with another companion because my father had brought me food; for that companion, his sister-in-law had brought it, and we were inside the little house of a relative and we were drawing how we could get back home in the evening, we were determined not to return to the concentration camp because we had escaped. Instead, the fascists, who had seen us, went to the door and with a rifle butt they opened it, they saw us there and made us re-enter the concentration camp through a small window. There was a roll call and in the evening they took us away from there and during the night, before Florence, we were strafed. Three postal trucks full, all strafed. They gave time to get everyone out and with the planes always flying overhead, then after TRA TRA, they strafed all those three postal trucks. Then we went to Florence. Here we found this writing: ITALIAN VOLUNTEERS COLLECTION CENTER FOR GERMANY... What kind of work were you assigned to when you arrived and how did your day usually go? GINO: The work, I told you, they asked me what work I did at home and I told them I was a farmer and they made me work in the fields. If someone said they had done other work, for example a mechanic, then they took them to the factories, but for us, those who said they were farmers, they took us to work with shovel and pick in the fields, in the woods, to cut the woods, to make the clearing to set up these huts for foreigners who came from outside. Where the Germans had their retreats in Russia, in Ukraine, they took everyone there to work, women with children all working. How did your days usually go? What did you do during the day? GINO: Well, shovel and pick, always that. There was a card, a small piece of paper with a number that they gave us every morning, we handed over the ausweis, a document that without it you couldn’t move around. You handed it to the chef and he put the stamp on it to eat the next day and without that you couldn’t go anywhere. We purposely went to get potatoes and if they found us without the ausweis, they beat us, they gave us blows. If you carried it maybe they didn’t say anything, but if you didn’t hand it in there was no stamp to eat in the evening. When we went home, to the barrack, they gave us back the ausweis which was the card to eat the next day and if the chef didn’t take it and didn’t put the stamp to eat, we didn’t eat anything at all. What is the episode you remember most of all, that struck you the most, the episode you remember above all? Well, I told you everything. The memories, there are many many many, every day is a story. I told you things as they are... like that, but every day, every day. Is there a best memory among all, something in particular? Gino: The best episode was the day of liberation, the day we returned home... What instead is maybe the worst memory? GINO: The worst memory, they were all bad. There everything was bad because you no longer thought about life, you thought, you saw a dead person there, another there, “we’re dying goodbye, we’re dying!” Hours and hours I was under a tree crying, thinking about the family, especially for my mother! (strongly emotional, cries again) How were you liberated? GINO: Well, I told you. We were liberated with the comrades in this hay barrack and there were the Americans arriving at night; we were liberated at night but we didn’t sleep, we didn’t sleep at all, we just cried because we knew we had to be liberated there, but pieces were falling down!