European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

take it to Bologna and then send it to Berlin”.

Fiorello and I decided we had to do something about it.

We got together and devised our plan. We had to carry the curtain away.

It was more than 20 meters long, so we couldn’t transport it with a car or a small truck.

We had to find a suitable vehicle.

One of us found a truck in Rubiera, where he also came from, I think.

We had to wrap the curtain somehow once we had rolled it, to be able to hide it.

We thought about putting the curtain into one of those large pipes that where used for water.

One of us found a large copper pipe.

We had to lower the curtain, since half of it was still hanging.

Five of us went inside, together with two other blindfolded men,

one of whom we doubted being a theatre employee.

We had to use the wooden pulleys. They now use automatic ones.

Anyway, we lowered the curtain and slowly managed to move it. However another problem emerged.

In order not to be fined by the police for bringing such a large truck behind the theatre, one had to ask for permission.

I told them we had to bring out some odds and ends and that we needed the truck to load everything on it.

We were given permission and finally managed to load the curtain on the truck, although a small piece still fell out.

Then we had to think about where to bring it.

We opted for the area of Biasola, where Fiorello and I lived, so that we could keep an eye on it.

Finally we hid the curtain inside Villa Levi.