European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

You see, we all used to deny knowing someone, but I couldn’t, since the names were written on the letter.

Then, one morning, we left from the train station.

I had already been reduced to the ranks:

they had taken everything from me and that day I was slightly shabby and hadn’t shaved.

As we set off, those who were on the railcar with us were curious.

On other occasions, such as the day I was interned,

when there were eighteen of us, we had a whole railcar for ourselves, so there was no one else.

This time, however, the railcar was full, so people began to ask me what I had done,

and I did what I could to have them do so.

I became the star of the railcar, everybody handed me something,

cigarettes and so on, and the Carabinieri didn’t know what to say.

Their problem was that they didn’t have a place to hide me in,

so they couldn’t do anything if someone offered me a cigarette.

Once we arrived in Florence, however, the Carabinieri decided to get off and change train.

Later I understood that they did this to prevent me from talking to the people that were on the first train.

The other one – from Bologna to Reggio Emilia – was a lot less crowded.

When we arrived in Reggio Emilia I was immediately taken to the Police Station.

There, I was confronted with a lot of stories, and I still had to deal with the issue of the letter.

I would have never told anything to the authorities,

but Pagliarello had my letter in his hands while he questioned me, and I did not know what to say.