Yesterday I walked a few miles to find the Memorial site to the thousands of Italians who were massacred on Kefalonia, by the Nazi, during WW2. They were members of the Acqui Division, Infantry soldiers and officers. Some were gunned down where they stood, others were marched to this natural 'pit' and machine gunned there...
And a quote to go with this: 'Romualdo Formato, one of Acqui's seven chaplains and one of the few survivors, wrote that during the massacre, the Italian officers started to cry, pray and sing. Many were shouting the names of their mothers, wives and children. According to Formato's account, three officers hugged and stated that they were comrades while alive and now in death they would go together to paradise, while others were digging through the grass as if trying to escape. In one place, Formato recalled, "the Germans went around loudly offering medical help to those wounded. When about 20 men crawled forward, a machine-gun salvo finished them off. Officers gave Formato their personal belongings to take with him and give to their families back in Italy. The Germans, however, confiscated the items and Formato could no longer account for the exact number of the officers killed.'
From this site I walked up the hill to the Memorial for these men. There I met a young Italian woman who translated some of the plaques for me and we talked. She lives in northern Italy and is on holiday with her Argentinian boyfriend. She said she didn't expect to find the site and was delighted ( and surprised) that other nationalities came to pay their repsects as well. I asked her if she had a family member directly involved in the Kefalonia Massacre, she said no. She told me her grandmother was a young Pharmacist when the war started. One day men came to the Pharmacy and asked her grandmother if she was 'for' Mussollini. She said that she wasn't. The men cut all her hair off and rubbed her scalp in the gravel on the road outside until she bled. After that she said she was 'for' Mussollini. What a story for this grand daughter to carry?
Here's the memorial to the Acqui Division...
The memorial faces Italy. In 1953 all the bodies they could find were exhumed and returned to Bari in Puglia.
On my way back down the hill I met a man who was born on Kefalonia - he now lives in Brisbane and comes back once a year to visit. I asked him about life on the island during the war. He said he was only young but his parents moved him from house to house to try and save him from all the bombing that was going on. He also volunteered that the Italians took all their flour and oil and the islanders were hard pressed for food.
From this site I walked up the hill to the Memorial for these men. There I met a young Italian woman who translated some of the plaques for me and we talked. She lives in northern Italy and is on holiday with her Argentinian boyfriend. She said she didn't expect to find the site and was delighted ( and surprised) that other nationalities came to pay their repsects as well. I asked her if she had a family member directly involved in the Kefalonia Massacre, she said no. She told me her grandmother was a young Pharmacist when the war started. One day men came to the Pharmacy and asked her grandmother if she was 'for' Mussollini. She said that she wasn't. The men cut all her hair off and rubbed her scalp in the gravel on the road outside until she bled. After that she said she was 'for' Mussollini. What a story for this grand daughter to carry?
Here's the memorial to the Acqui Division...
On my way back down the hill I met a man who was born on Kefalonia - he now lives in Brisbane and comes back once a year to visit. I asked him about life on the island during the war. He said he was only young but his parents moved him from house to house to try and save him from all the bombing that was going on. He also volunteered that the Italians took all their flour and oil and the islanders were hard pressed for food.
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