The roundabout in front of the town hall will be named after Anna Pardini, the youngest victim of the massacre. Sister Adele at the ceremony: “The Germans shot us, my sister Chesira saved me”
Montemurlo celebrated this morning 79th anniversary of liberation from Nazi fascism with a particularly touching and emotional ceremony in which, in addition to citizens, the municipalities of the province and local associations, the association “Martiri di Sant’Anna di Stazzema”, National Park of Peace Sant’Anna di Stazzema, received part of Stazzema and Adele Pardini, sister of the youngest victim massacre, Anna, who is only 20 days old. The mayor of the municipality of Montemurlo, Simone Calamai, was sought for little Anna and all the innocent victims of that massacre, which claimed the lives of 560 people, including 130 children and numerous pregnant women. name the intersection, which is located in front of the town hall between Via Montalese and Via Fratelli Rosselli. Recognition of the martyrs of the Nazi-Fascist massacre, during which in Tuscany alone, in just four months of 1944, 240 massacres were committed and more than 3,720 civilians died. “A title that is intended to be a warning against any war and against any violence against human life,” the message says. Mayor Simona Calamai. Adele Pardini wanted to express all her gratitude to the administration, which through this dedication “continues to revive the history and memory of Anna and all the innocent people who died in the massacre.”
Adele Pardini that on August 12, 1944 he was only 4 years old. He was at home with his four sisters (his other four brothers were sent by his father to look after the cows and were rescued), having breakfast when the Germans arrived. Everyone was pressed against the wall. Her mother was killed before her eyes with a pistol, along with another woman: “I was only 4 years old, but I remember that the Germans shot us with a three-stroke machine gun, I screamed, my sister Chezira saved me,” says Adele, who, together with her sisters were injured. When their mother was killed, a hatch behind them opened as they fell, and the girls took refuge there. Because the Germans had set fire to all the houses, the girls had to flee the area again because the flames would have killed them, and as they ran towards the cave they were hit by artillery fire again. 16-year-old Maria died of her wounds on September 19 of the following year, and Anna, the youngest participant in the massacre, died on September 4. Cesira Pardini (died aged 96 in April 2022), the eldest sister who saved them all along with another one-year-old child, Paolo Lencioni, was awarded a gold medal for civil service. “In Sant’Anna, people were not just killed, an act of cowardice was committed against defenseless civilians: women, children, the elderly,” continues Umberto Mancini, President of the Association of Martyrs of Sant’Anna di Stazzema “These episodes of horror must be remembered not only as an act of gratitude to those who gave their lives to leave us a free and democratic society, but above all as a warning against all wars and violence.” Sant’Anna, 79 years later, he flees to another war, the one in Ukraine: “When the mass graves of Bucha, near Kiev, in Sant’Anna, were discovered, we relived the days after the massacre, when the survivors temporarily buried their loved ones in large mass graves,” continues Mancini.
Director of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema National Park Michele Morabito, instead emphasizes that: “When you give names to things, people force themselves to live forever” and puts forward the idea of a friendship pact between the communities of Sant’Anna di Stazzema and Montemurlo, to unite above all young people and students of local schools visit the sites of the massacre and learn about its history. The proposal was immediately welcomed by Mayor Simone Calamai, and during his weeks he will support it with official documents. “My invitation is to go to Sant’Anna di Stazzema to experience these deep emotions, to think, to reflect, to grasp the deep meaning of what happened and to develop memory, so that together we can defeat indifference and defend the values that the Resistance has abandoned us.” , Kalamai concluded.
Source: Municipality of Montemurlo – Press Service.