European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Ulisse Gilioli was born in Montecavolo near Quattro Castella in the province of Reggio Emilia on May 26th, 1921 into a peasant family. Ulisse studied at the Salesians in Montechiarugolo near Parma and then as an autodidact until he started working at Capolo, where he worked for short periods. In Montecchio he became friends with some other young people united by the aversion to the fascist regime. In 1939-40 he worked in Rome at the Ministry of Transport until he had to start military service.  At the beginning of the war he took part in military actions as an airman on the Mediterranean islands. On September 8th, 1943 he was on duty in Milano from where he fled to return to Montecchio. He later joined his brother Guerrino and other fellows in the mountains. With the nickname Orazio he fought on the mountains near Villa Minozzo and took the inspiration from these episodes for writing partisan stories and poems. Together with Lando Landini and Davide Valeriani he wrote in the journals “Il Volontario della Libertà” and “Il Garibaldino” that were read among the resistance fighters and civilians in the mountains.

Francesco Bertacchini was born on June 24th, 1926 in Reggio Emilia. As a young apprentice in a radio and gramophone shop he discovered his love for music and his aversion to the fascist regime because of the restrictions he had to suffer from in his daily life. After the armistice of September 8th, 1943,aged 17 he and his best friend went to the mountains looking for the “rebels”. They were willing to become a rebel themselves and eventually succeeded, joining the 144th Garibaldi Brigade. Francesco took part in actions in the area of Succiso and Cerreto, attempting sabotage actions against the German troops on the road number 63. He was part of the “Antifascist” unit and of the “Cervi” unit with the nickname “Volpe” (“Fox”) and by pure chance was not involved in the Legoreccio massacre of November 17th, 1944, in which all his companions were killed. He took part in several actions in the Enza valley and in fights in Bibbiano, Barco and Cavriago. As he found himself surrounded by German troops he crossed the river Enza in October, 1944, and reached the territory of Parma first and Piacenza later. He took part in the Liberation of Parma and reached his home town Reggio Emilia in the night of April, 24th, 1944, when the city had already been liberated.

We protected the partisans so much when we were kids; they were our friends and the Germans were our enemies.

One said: »I´ll do some collecting.« We used the collected money for the ›Rote Hilfe‹ (political help organ).

You would deliberately throw a spanner in the works, as long as you could and as long as you could breathe.

Well, did I kill somebody... We did shoot, but then knowing if we killed them for sure is another story.

That’s what the partisan struggle was about. Fourteen months more or less, constantly: these actions, these deaths.

When you were taken to an investigation, when you could not walk any more, you were brought to the cell.

I went to a lady that I saw once in my life. It was my contact spot. She said to me: you can save a child.

They did not want us in sabotage, we were too young. Our scout authorities made it clear not to get us into sabotage.

There was no real future for us. But that made you stronger to go into the resistance and help wherever you could.

You are young people. Don’t fight with each other. Be collegial. Be friends because you don’t know what the tomorrow will be like.

The Resistance for me was just like going to university. I learned to feel confident throughout my whole life.

I remember Strozzi saying: »War has never brought anything good for the poor.«

What did we know about politics? With fascism, you could only read what they gave to you, and you didn’t even have the right to make comments.

I started to run as fast as I could. I was skinny then and 23 years old. The soldier took out his gun and started shooting at me.

I will join the partisans from Carpineti because i wanted the war to end.

It was the Italian occupiers who gunned down every liberation movement. They shot so many innocent hostages.

Killing, even in the name of great ideals, will ultimately come back to you later in form of a trauma.

The Tchetniks attacked us from behind and they massacred the Partisans, all from behind our line. We lost 700 men in one night and one day.