On September 8, 1943, Italy surrendered to the allies, and the Germans, who had already controlled northern Italy, took over their former partners and moved to seize the rest of the country. After a few days, they arrived in Rome. author Alba De CéspedesWho lived in the city, the occupation found an increased repression, and decided to leave. The allies landed in the south and were moving north, and De Sizbes assumed that they would soon arrive in Rome and that their exile would be brief. She found shelter in a village in the countryside. But the advance of the allies was slow, and while the Germans began raiding the villages, it was forced to flee. With a small group of their colleagues, she lived in hiding in the forest for a month, evading German leagues. She finally managed to cross the Sangro River, which was the German front line, and to reach the safety of the Allied region. It ended in Barry, where, with other journalists from Rome and local fascism, she went to work on Barry Radio. The station, which the allies seized, has become a voice for free Italy, seeking to deliver the liberated south to the German and the north by broadcasting war news, party information and encouragement. De céspedes has become a program director entitled “L’Talia Combatte!” (“Italy is fighting!”) She himself broadcasts twice a week under the name of Chlorland, the hero of the warrior in the epic.Liberata episodes(“Jerusalem was handed over”), by the poet in the sixteenth century Tassu Tasso.
In a short piece published near the end of the war, De céspedes described the work experience on “L’Talia Combatte!”:
DE céspedes transmits the urgency of Barry Radio’s efforts; The three here, which were translated into English for the first time, address, in particular, the women of Italy, whose husbands were often in the middle of the night. In late February 1944, De céspedes moved to Napoli, where she continued to broadcast like Dorinda to Napoli Radio. Rome was finally liberated in June, and returned home.
The Germans say.Patch“
Tonight a woman talks to you. A woman left her house within two hours, ending up in a train at dawn, spent a stressful days to flee the Germans from the village to the village, then Ford decided to Sangerro and cross the fire line to reach this side. But tonight I do not talk to you as a journalist or writer. Tonight, I want to speak as a woman to countless Italian women who are waiting for the return of their men here and in the darkness of separation, without news, without promises, without a date that might put an end to them. Everyone speaks to men because they are the ones who are fighting and at risk, but no one has yet spoken to the women who are waiting for them. It takes a lot of courage to wait: a battlefield in a cold house where the beloved sound does not appear, every day like others, one other gold, but what does it matter? Sometimes we think it will be so forever.
I know there are moments that you no longer have to wait. At night, for example, when the house is silent and you work. Then she goes to the living room, where two identical chairs carry deep fingerprints of long floors – one of these chairs is now empty. Next to the chair is the radio and you look at the face, look directly where “Barry” is written and the needle stops. Perhaps there, so you want to convert the key with affection, as if she was seeking a helping hand. But sometimes you don’t want to do it. Type of hostility the dean restricts you, like Scowl. In those moments, I know, you think he was wrong to leave. You think he should have been able to stay in the city, or find a shelter in a small town, with you.
It was easy, as you think. However, this is not true; I will tell you about the fate of many men who have been. In the cities of Abrotzo, the Germans arrived at night: Some of the trucks came out with the pistols on hand, others remained behind the machine gun that could try to escape. They overcame the doors with their gun, and if no one responds to the door and entered the house. Look around, dear listeners. Houses like you were: carefully chosen furniture, photographs, and memories – in short, intimacy for two people who care about each other. The Germans entered by force, violated all of this, and invited them to exist. Like this, they will appear in the bedroom, where the child is sometimes afraid to cry. “PatchThey said, “Nothing else.
The man had to wear clothes in a moment. The wife asked, begging: Where? where? how long? There was no answer. She saw her dear companion disappearing among the unknown soldiers. Effective memories have risen, uninterrupted things to say. But the door has already been closed – you could not follow it, you could only cry and inherit.
It was in Monte Oduricio. In Torricella Peligna, on the other hand, they reached 11 in the morning. Many men had already lived in the forest for some time, but others, in disbelief, remained in the city: They will not come hereThink, It is a mountainous village, they will pass here without stopping. But the truck stopped in the middle of the box. They will want carsEveryone thought, Or maybe they want radio, or animals.
But they went directly to the men, and looked at them with difficult eyes. “PatchThey said.NickThey responded harshly, “Nick“
Then women, mothers, wives, girls, were crowded around the truck, but they were unable to approach: the Germans kept them away from weapons. Finally, she left the truck, and women started screaming and crying. After the truck, they ran for the longest possible period, called the names loudly: Mario, Francesco, Luigi. One of them, in a curve on the road, came out of the moving truck. Donato was his name. But a machine gun hit it at the waist, almost broken it in two parts. He fell on the street and stayed there, and his arms continued towards his home and wife. He had four children.
Well, all this could have happened if he stayed with you. These are real facts that I tell you, and I see with my eyes. It is not propaganda, do you understand? Perhaps it is difficult to believe, but here the propaganda does not exist. We come to the microphone and say what we want. I wanted to tell you this to bring you some comfort. Because, too, I waited for someone; I also thought he was wrong to go. You are now alone. This is very difficult, and I know. But if you stay next to you, there, in this chair, one night, you may have heard the door open violently and screaming a harsh voice.Patch“I wanted to feel sorry for him sometimes. Carrying courage.
What your men ask about you
Tonight, my words are at the forefront of you, Italian women who live in the north of Sangro and Garigliano, in the region that the Germans invaded. Many of you have husbands, brothers, sons here, on the other side; Others have a fiancé, men committed to a loving promise. Some of these men are soldiers in this area, and some were on ships or airports, while others separated from you to cross the lines and did not dare to curb them, knowing that this is their explicit duty. Sometimes, it was yourselves who pushed them to leave, or to escape, or to follow their motivation or conscience.
Months have passed now. And you don’t know more about them. A brief transverse message on the radio is the only thing that gave comfort to wait for anxiety. Many things you want to know – what they think about, what they say. You want to get a message, some communication. You will do anything for them, to help them, anything to see them again. And tonight, I bring you a message from them. It seems as if I knew you, I have seen the stressful pictures several times, wearing them by removing the governor several times a day. They are installed on the walls of tents, framed on offices in offices. Your men pray towards you, towards the return; They are talking about anything else – they remember today is the day of your name, and tomorrow’s birthday. They understand your pain because it resembles their pain.
