Evening star., 1945-03-18

all fat men, his eyes had an expression
of loyal devotion and goodheartedness.
With him were a brother-in-law, little
Guido and their neighbor. a pretty,
young woman dressed in black, her face
the true expression of infinite sadness.
They, like every other resident in the
street, had been the protagonists Of the
Rasella tragedy. Their sad tale was
long one. full of bitter details. To
repeat it textually would fill volumes
I shall try to condense it and give it
out to you en- resume:
The Story of Via Rasella
On March % last, at 3 O'Clock in the
afternoon, unit of German SIS troops
were noisily marching up Via Raselia
when 30-pound bomb was dropped
by handful of Italian Partisans from
the third floor of one of the buildings
Ihlrty-two Germans were killed in
stantly and many others wounded. A
ferocious guerrilla battle ensued. SIS
firing squads and Fascists, armed with
machine guns and rifles, came pouring
In from all sides, shooting right and
left at a bewildered, panic stricken
population running for shelter. This
was Immediately followed by a house.
toulouse roundup of the entire area,
Men, women and children were brutally
ordered out Of their houses.
L knew we were in for it, the res
taurateur said with deep emotion, "and
I did not want to die without kissing
my wife and son, but those brutes
would not let me, they struck me with
the butt OF their rifles and kicked me
down the stairs II too, was pushed
down the stairs by a mean German
ofhcer." interrupted Guido with excite
ment. They would not even let me
wait for my mother, who was pale and
very scared"
They took us men to the Ministry
OF the Interior, the SIS headquarters, in
trucks" the father went on. These
were high vehicles and those of us who
were not able to climb into them
quickly enough to suit the German
guards were beaten and left lying on
the ground. At the ministry we were
lined up against the wall, our hands
raised high above our heads. We stood
there don't know how long. Finally,
some German officers came in, pushed
us into an antechamber and took our
documents. Then the nightmare which
turned my hair gray overnight un-
reeled itself"
Thought They Were Dead
"A small door leading into a dark
cellar was thrown open, emitting a foul
odor of human flesh; hundreds Of bodies
were stopped all over the floor. We
thought they were dead A candle at
each extremity gave the cellar the
aspect Of q mortuary chamber. We
were thrown in with the other men.
ordered to kneel down and keep our
hands behind our necks. We had to
remain In that position until $50 pm.
OF the next day. We had had nothing
to eat. No one dared move; We were
not even allowed to answer the calls
Of nature.
MY heart sank when the following
afternoon heard my name called.
This is it, thought. I got up and
painfully followed the others. MY bones
ached, my heart ached. I looked around
for my wife and son, but saw no women
or children in the place. Where were
they? What were the Germans going
to do with them? Then we were taken
into another hall in teams OF ten, lined
up against the wall once more and told
that We were free, and that we were to
walk back home, one by one, and to
keep quiet about the whole incident"
They then returned our documents and
CONTINUED On Page C-sJ