<< On October 16, 1943, the Germans could really give vent to all the hate they had for us. An unforgettable day that will clearly stay for the rest of our lives and will be remembered for generations after generations, you can’t ever forget the 16th of October and every time it will be remembered, we will look around us, afraid a German might be behind us.

Before, they didn’t tell us anything because we believed we didn’t have time, but then we had time and so…
During the night of October 15, 1943, we heard hand grenades exploding, machine gun volleys, bursts of gunfire, everyone thought the alarm would sound but nothing. Calm returned around one o’clock in the morning. Exhausted by the disturbed night, we fell asleep immediately. We were rudely awakened by loud banging on the front door.
I looked at the clock, it was five am.
Who on earth could it be? What happened, has someone fallen ill?
We were all quickly on our feet . Mum went to open the door. It was Aunt Clelia, who lived on the floor below; she was pale and scared out of her wits, and in a trembling voice said: What on earth? You’re all in bed, run away! They’re taking all the Jews. I will feel the blood curdling in my veins and that shiver down my spine for the rest of my life. We rushed to the window and were suddenly struck by a harrowing scene. An entire family was being taken away, surrounded by four Germans. The children were crying, the parents were trying to get them to escape, the Germans were shouting at them to keep walking and if they lagged behind, they were kicked.
We were at the window paralysed, trying to get a grip, we got dressed as well as possible to help the men escape. Mum left first, she saw there was no one at the main door, and signalled for me to get everyone to leave, two at a time. We tried to be as nonchalant as possible, but anyone could see the terror on our faces.
All the roads around Portico D’Ottavia were blocked by the Germans so the people who lived in the centre had no way to escape. With The help of god our men managed to flee.
We thought they were only looking for men, so all the women and children stayed home. The Germans knocked at every house, when they didn’t find men, they took away all the women and children. There were heart-breaking scenes, women screaming, children crying, Germans shouting and kicking them to make them move, people, the Christians, watching them saying: poor things! Poor people, where are they taking them? But no one did anything to help them escape and to take a child or two. They took away disabled people, old men on their deathbeds, bed-bound pregnant women or those who had recently given birth, they were merciless, they made them get dressed, loaded them onto trucks like cattle and took them away.
Everyone in our family was safe, but didn’t know anything about our relatives. We were saved by a miracle, after all the men fled, mum went back home again to check the front door was closed. We got ready to escape, took some underwear in case we couldn’t return home, then downstairs we heard loud blows to the main door. We all held our breath.
I closed my eyes and said Shemà but I thought we wouldn’t be spared. We slowly went down, Mum looked through the keyhole, she then pulled away, as pale as a ghost. There were four Germans standing outside the main door who wanted to come in.
Luckily, the doorman from the building next door said: they’ve gone, there’s no one left. We’ll be back The Germans said and left. As soon as they went, we breathed a sigh of relief, we were safe. >>