European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

After such a long engagement one was considered a widow.

It would be difficult to find a young man willing to marry me.

But I didn’t feel like starting a family with a man who had such principles.

Battle name Laila

As a partisan I chose the battle name Laila.

I would be Anita for my friends, but I was only known as Laila with the partisans.

At times with people I didn’t know or whom I met for the first time.

It was my battle name.

The names we were given increased our chances of survival.

If one was arrested and talked under torture, he handed out the name he knew, not being your real name.

Many saved themselves this way.

I had chosen the battle name Laila because I read a lot

and had found out about this princess in a book on the Aztecs.

Her husband was an Aztec prince, the commander of a unit fighting the Spanish invaders.

As he was killed in battle she took his place.

Laila was the first name of a woman fighter, so I thought it would be right for me to choose that name.

She was a combatant, and I chose a name that would reflect what I was doing.

Becoming a partisan: rights, obligations

After a while of walking, a partisan patrol came towards us.

They were from the Rosselli detachment. Rosselli was one of the local partisans. Then we reached the detachment.