Liliana Picciotto

In the days that preceded Christmas 1941, before the eyes of the stunned inhabitants of the community of Gramignazzo di Sissa, agricultural center of the Bassa Parmense region on the delta of the Taro River, which counted a few hundred residents, an unusual scene unfolded.

At the entrance of the village’s inn, a bunch of men crowded around, who, having hung their capes for the day, were smoking and energetically playing cards, when from the coach arriving from Parma descended a large group of civilians loaded with suitcases and children. Dressed in their city clothes, they looked around, disoriented, searching for someone to welcome them or tell them where to go, where to sleep, where to put down their belongings. Read

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