Hiding during the war

Some of nonna’s recounts of World War II.

Even though nonna was very young at the time of the Second World War, she still remembers when the family had to hide in the basement where there were no windows. The airplanes could not see the house at night and luckily they didn’t drop any bombs. During the day they would hide under the trees in the countryside when the Italian partisans passed by. Often the partisans would need to be fed as they had been hiding in the mountains from the German soldiers for several days without food.

The German soldiers often came to the village to take men as prisoners. Many of the men including Nonna’s father would hide in the caves in the mountains. When the children in the village would go and feed the sheep or goats, they would take the men something to eat. Nonna recently told me that sometimes they would bring cold meats and cheese wrapped in a tea towel to the men, however when the German soldiers stopped them and asked them what it was for, they would say it was their own lunch. She said that lying was one thing that really kept their family alive.

Credit: Elisa Bastiani

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