WWII in Italy

The second weekend of school we were given the opportunity to sign up for study trips.  Some were to other countries, while others in different Italian cities.  I chose to sign up for one in Rome.  Two JFRC alumni come back every semester to take a group of 25 students through a weekend of WWII spots in and near Rome.

Saturday, March 19, 2011
Anzio
Nettuno
Rome

Saturday we started out at the German and the American cemeteries in Nettuno, right outside Rome.  The were very different.  The German cemetery had only crosses.  Over 27,000 German soldiers were buried there, but there were three names to a cross, and then another 3 on the back.  The unidentified graves were labeled "A German Soldier".   The American cemetery was beautiful.  There were white crosses, and for the Jewish soldiers there were Stars of David.  The unidentified graves read "Here rests, in honored glory, a comrade in arms, known but to God". I thought this was absolutely beautiful, and a more personal way of remembering those unknown soldiers. 

The American cemetery had a memorial monument, a very moving chapel with all of the soldiers' names in the cemetery, and a museum.
In the American cemetery there are 5 known Loyola Alums.  It is hard for me to describe how this (and the rest of the weekend) experience felt because I wouldn't say that it could be called fun or cool,but it was very educational and very eye opening and a good experience. The whole weekend really got me thinking, especially when you see how young so many of the soldiers were.  Most were around the age I am now.  I know this isn't a new realization or anything, but when I think of WWII I always think of my grandpas and my Uncle who fought for our country.   I know that they were around my age during this time, but I guess I never really put myself in the picture.  I can't imagine having all my cousins or friends fighting right now.  It also made me realize that the generations of WWII had to grow up so quickly and mature at such a young age, and it makes the rest of the difference between my generation seems so much clearer. 

It didn't feel right to take pictures of many things I saw.  For example, the cemeteries.  I know many people did, and maybe I'll steal some of theirs, but for now, there will be no pictures on this post. It just seemed a bit disrespectful to me at the time.
The site for the cemetery has pictures, so you can access them through this site:
http://nuke.montecassinotour.com/THEWARCEMETERIESATANZIONETTUNO/tabid/80/Default.aspx
After the cemetery we went to an amazing museum.  I didn't have my camera, but I made my friends take pictures, so I'll have those up in the next few days.  The museum captured the battle of Monte Cassino. The museum was a  series of life sized dioramas.  It felt so real, it had all the real equipment and uniforms, the dummies looked like actual humans, the scenery was like you were on the beach, or in the mountains, or wherever that certain battle that was being described was being fought. The sound affects were even frightening. 

  Sunday, March 20, 2011

Sunday was very interesting and extremely sad.  The day was meant to reflect a 24 hour period in Rome where a group of students, headed by students, Carla Capponi and Rosario Bentivegna, led an attempt at resistance to the German soldiers in Rome.  Every day, at the same time and same place, German soldiers marched (three abreast) up and down the same route, passing Il Duce's house.  Bentivegna dressed up like a sanitation worker, and wheeled the bomb onto the route; he had 45 seconds to run.  Carla met him giving him a robe to put over the sanitation outfit.  They killed somewhere around 35 of the Germans.  Hitler of course was not happy with this, and ordered the Germans in Rome to kill ten Romans for ever German killed.  They took many of the people from prison (who were not in prison for good reason, over 65 were in prison for being Jewish).   After we walked the street, Via Rasella, (where the holes in the buildings are still present from the shattering bomb) we went to Fosse Ardeatine.  Fosse Ardeatine is the cave in which they killed the ten Italians for every German.  The Germans decided that each soldier would kill 5 of the Italians.  It was also ordered that they do it drunk, since many of the Germans were not wanting to take part, but if they didn't, they too would be in the cave.  In the end only one of the Germans did not take part because he fainted at the site of the Italians inside the cave.  They German soldiers also had it planned how to kill the Italians with one shot so that it wouldn't be "messy", but because they were so drunk, it didn't go as planned, and it caused the Italians to suffer greatly in the caves.   There was one family that had 6 members killed, ranging from the age of 14-somewhere in his 60s.  When they were pulling these men (and boys) out of the prison and bringing them to the caves, they obviously did not tell them what was going to happen.  In the family I had just mentioned, there was one boy that was left out, the 17 year old.  Having been locked up, and thinking the rest of his family was going to work outside, he told the German soldiers that they forgot his name, and so they chose him too.  All of the Italians that were killed in the caves, are also buried there.  It is quite different from the cemeteries I saw the day before.  There are rows of graves, with the name, picture, age of the man.  It was really a very difficult morning.  Families of the people were standing near the graves, putting flowers on them, and witnessing such acts emphasized the tragedies that the whole world endured.

After we went to the caves, we made our way to the Gestapo Headquarters, which is now the Liberation Museum in Rome. It's located very close to San Giovanni (which I talked about in an earlier post).  Here we were able to go into holding cells; the walls were covered with documents from the war.  Arrest papers that you could clearly read "Motivo (reason):  Ebrew (Hebrew)."  Some were written in German also.  The handwritten list of the Italians that were killed in Fosse Ardeatine was on another wall.  Newspapers wallpapered the walls, and looking at the headlines was shocking.  Inside the isolation cells, the prisoners would scratch how many days they had been there, or write notes, or even simple sentences that had so much meaning to them. 

The two men who led the trip treated us to an amazing lunch after, and I sat with some girls I didn't know very well, so it was really nice to meet new people...and eat a good Italian meal.

Random Facts
1.  This is really just a summary of everything I learned; there was so much, too much to write about, but it's something I'd like to tell you about in person.

2.  I especially found some of the stories about the heroic nurses fascinating.  You don't hear about their fights very often, and listening to those stories was inspiring.

3.  The men who led our trip sent us a guide to WWII in Rome, so I'm attaching it just in case I wasn't clear about something, or I don't know, it's pretty interesting, so if you're looking for something to read.

http://www.nprg.com/Portals/2/nprg_com%20Files/ForTheCommunity/RomeGuideThirdEditionFinal.pdf

http://nuke.montecassinotour.com/THEWARCEMETERIESATANZIONETTUNO/tabid/80/Default.aspx