Nazi Forces in Nonantolla

Shortly after Mussolini’s fall, the village school across from the villa replaced Fascist symbols with the Nazi flag. Residents were gripped by panic and warned not to speak German near the school. Children expressed a deep dread of the German soldiers, who turned the school into a center for the wounded. By August 1943, Nazi forces had filled the land, with tank columns crossing Nonantola daily and the German military taking full control of all major junctions.

From Yoshko’s Memoirs

Fear of tomorrow pushes away other thoughts, pushes away plans. On the horizon hints the chance of Aliyah (immigration) which has not yet been completely cancelled, but the sense of insecurity wreaks havoc on us. We made efforts of distraction. We invented “tasks that cannot suffer delay.” To do the impossible: to breathe new hopes, to start with a renewed momentum of action, to plant a renewed taste in these lives… we outlined plans of courses for driving, for typing, and for establishing a sewing workshop…

Mussolini fell and everyone expected with impatience the landing of the Allies in northern Italy. But in reality the land was filled with Nazi forces. Columns of tanks crossed Nonantola every day on their way south. The German military machine gained full control in the centers and junctions.

From a diary 7.8.1943

Our director, Dr. Umberto Jacchia, took a “vacation.” I guess he won’t return. There is an expectation for the cancellation of the racial laws in the coming days. It is possible he is looking for other work for himself. The new “reality” of anti-Nazi Italy under the control of Badoglio, with the hopes it gave birth to, was nothing but an illusion: the German army acted in Italy as if it were its own. “Nothing, no one worries, except for your big mouths?! Please, no one is forcing you to stay here, the gates are open…”

On September 7 a consultation of “Delasem” takes place in Modena. They discuss with complete serenity the appointment of a new director for Villa Emma. The Germans came to see our house. They want to turn it into a military hospital. On the roof they did exercises. S.S. companies pass in parades in front of the building. The children are gripped by terror. “Guys, first thing—quiet and peace! The German soldiers are not our business… they are not permitted to come to us: the Carabinieri informed us that we should refer to them any German who comes to us with demands.”

“Nonsense! Don’t you see what is going on here… a hundred Jews within their reach! Must we wait until they slaughter us in a ‘collective slaughter’?!” “First of all, let there be quiet”—I repeat and say with forced serenity, but there is nothing in my words to calm the spirits.

On September 6, 1943, I sent to H. Barlas, the representative of the Jewish Agency who sat in Istanbul, a letter in which I expressed joy that the lists of children candidates for Aliyah were received. And as follows: “…you understand well the special conditions… the group of Villa Emma works well. We are after the grain harvest which created an excellent atmosphere. The progress of the young people in the carpentry shop is good and all this is very heartening. Alongside the daily troubles and the difficult life… What are your shouts that do not stop, Tommy and Pauly? Do you think that the entire world strategy was swallowed within you and there is no one else besides you who understands.”