European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

We had to be very careful because we didn't know the people,

you couldn't know if one was with you or against you,

or it could be a weak guy, weakened by fear,

one who might run away and tell this and that if he got arrested ...

September 8th, 1943

In Yugoslavia we surrendered, we went to the pier,

they brought us there and we stayed there for two days and one night,

with no food, nothing, no arms, without knowing what to do or where to go.

Then a big boat passed by and the Yugoslavians used megaphones

to call them to come and get us,

they even shot at it to make the boat come to the beach.

We were more than 600 and we entered the boat just like all these Moroccans do today.

We went to sea through the Velebit which is what the place is called there.

We went into the villages with the megaphones but the Italian Army didn't want us, no-one would take us,

so we didn't know what to do.

They told us that the Germans were out there and that the land was mined because they didn't want night attacks,

so the Commander said to us we could go to Ancona and we all immediately agreed.

Then I fell asleep on a pile of ropes, starving, and when I woke up I saw Ancona on the coast.

We got off there and they brought us to an old factory that was full of people.