1
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I was in Milan...
2
00:00:25,399 --> 00:00:29,239
There I picked up a machine gun in parts
3
00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,960
and put everything into a suitcase,
a suitcase from my father.
4
00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,399
And then I arrived here in Laveno.
5
00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:41,759
Here I had to take the boat to
bring the gun to the mountains.
6
00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:44,600
When I arrived...
7
00:00:47,399 --> 00:00:50,240
I got scared and thought, now it's over.
8
00:00:50,399 --> 00:00:53,759
They will see me and kill me.
9
00:00:55,399 --> 00:00:57,759
Come on, put it inside,
put it inside.
10
00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:11,120
SEVENTEEN
11
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You don’t know what happened
in times of war.
12
00:01:38,599 --> 00:01:43,400
When you ask young people today,
if they know what the partisans did...
13
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,879
“Oh, they just created problems.”
14
00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:27,560
I had an older brother
who was also a partisan.
15
00:02:31,439 --> 00:02:34,800
But in our family everyone else was a fascist.
16
00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,199
We had Mussolini, the leader of fascism
17
00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,240
All of Italy was at his feet.
18
00:02:47,319 --> 00:02:50,520
So... I was a fascist too.
19
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,759
I was on fascist manifestations
because I was a child.
20
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:59,240
On Saturdays, we always went to
the manifestations.
21
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,520
Then I met a priest in Cuggiono
close to Milan.
22
00:03:11,199 --> 00:03:15,439
He explained to us what fascism really is.
23
00:03:16,599 --> 00:03:21,599
So then we were a whole group who
became anti-fascists.
24
00:03:35,319 --> 00:03:40,599
We started working, painted slogans
on the walls.
25
00:03:41,199 --> 00:03:45,800
Until we started doing bigger things.
26
00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,680
In Milan they told me to pick a number.
27
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I said "seventeen".
28
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Because I was seventeen years old.
29
00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,720
So we started to transport weapons.
30
00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:26,600
Because the guys in the mountains
they couldn’t move.
31
00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,199
If they got down, they would
have been caught.
32
00:04:31,399 --> 00:04:34,800
So it was us women who did this work.
33
00:04:43,439 --> 00:04:47,560
There was always a danger that
we would get caught.
34
00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,920
They would at least rape you, if not worse.
35
00:04:59,319 --> 00:05:03,920
There was this Osteria where
we would all meet.
36
00:05:04,639 --> 00:05:07,920
There I met people who wanted
to join the partisans.
37
00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:10,839
So I took them to the mountains.
38
00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,600
We, the runner girls, we gave it our all.
39
00:05:32,759 --> 00:05:34,600
These were amazing girls.
40
00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,199
And so many of us died.
41
00:05:49,079 --> 00:05:53,079
I was in Scareno and I monitored
the infirmary there.
42
00:05:53,519 --> 00:05:56,959
The people from the village
helped us tremendously.
43
00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,480
All the villagers.
44
00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:15,480
Because their children had all been
sent to the war.
45
00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:22,920
And everyone was asking:
Where are our children?
46
00:06:25,519 --> 00:06:28,920
That’s why they were on our side.
47
00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:59,240
Sometimes I had to get medicine
from the hospital.
48
00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,879
I would go from Scareno at night...
49
00:07:03,519 --> 00:07:08,240
I crossed the river and walked to Esio.
50
00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,480
The hospital was where it is still today.
51
00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,839
So the nurse came out at night...
52
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,399
She gave me the medicine that I needed.
53
00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:53,240
When it was cold there was snow,
and sometimes a lot of snow.
54
00:07:56,199 --> 00:07:57,720
We adapted.
55
00:07:57,959 --> 00:08:01,600
We tried to keep as warm as possible.
56
00:08:05,399 --> 00:08:09,600
We didn’t even have wood, sometimes
the farmers gave us some.
57
00:08:09,959 --> 00:08:14,800
Or when we were very cold, they let
us warm up in their houses.
58
00:08:55,639 --> 00:09:01,679
Oh how hungry I was...
There was not much to eat.
59
00:09:02,399 --> 00:09:08,200
If there was something, we always gave
it to the sick and wounded.
60
00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,799
I was as thin as a woodpecker,
after the war.
61
00:09:38,759 --> 00:09:42,639
And then I helped a lot of Jews.
62
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:52,279
I only spoke to one of them and told him:
63
00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,879
Tell them to follow me but never
to speak to me.
64
00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,240
They mustn’t speak to me because
that was dangerous.
65
00:10:05,639 --> 00:10:08,799
If they would catch a Jew they would
let them betray
66
00:10:09,039 --> 00:10:11,519
and talk... okay.
67
00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,600
I brought them to Intragna.
68
00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:45,919
And in Intragna there were smugglers
who brought them to Switzerland.
69
00:11:28,399 --> 00:11:30,879
I took Jews, I brought weapons,
70
00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:32,879
food, all that...
71
00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:36,799
But then it got very dangerous.
72
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,200
I had moments when I just wanted to cry.
73
00:11:53,759 --> 00:11:58,600
When I got to Pizzo Marona and saw
all those dead bodies...
74
00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,679
I said: This is impossible.
75
00:12:06,279 --> 00:12:11,720
Ah, Madonna... I have never been
back to Marona.
76
00:12:17,879 --> 00:12:20,879
They killed so many there.
77
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,200
They threw them into the valley, naked.
78
00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:40,559
Is it worth it?
79
00:12:40,919 --> 00:12:44,600
To get to be 20 years old and then get killed?
80
00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,559
I see them again and again,
I see their faces.
81
00:13:03,799 --> 00:13:06,720
I see my friends in front of me.
82
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:12,360
And now? They are all dead.
83
00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:37,440
We have won the war,
but what does it even mean.
84
00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:48,480
We didn’t even know, what it was
that we had won.
85
00:13:48,919 --> 00:13:52,480
We haven’t noticed anything.
86
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,799
I had hoped that things would change.
87
00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:10,879
Even after the war I went to manifestations.
88
00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,240
We were fighting for a just government.
89
00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:28,600
No, please. That such a thing
never happens again.
90
00:14:47,679 --> 00:14:51,399
There are no more living partisans
here anymore.
91
00:14:51,679 --> 00:14:54,600
I don’t know a single one.
92
00:14:55,639 --> 00:15:01,279
I am the last one, old and senil...
No, senil I am not.
93
00:15:37,679 --> 00:15:44,679
Blessed are those peoples
who have no need of heroes