The Story of Lea and Her Sisters

This story is shortened and adapted from the exhibit at the Museo della Memoria, Assisi 1943-1944  from an account of Lea Baruch, remembering her childhood.

My family lived in Flume, in Italy (today Rijeka Croatia). Until 1938 we had a normal and quiet life. My father, was a trader. My sisters Mira and Hella and I attended public school. We saw no contradictions between Italian Patriotism and Hebraism. Up to that time the Jews were completely integrated in the Italian society and they enjoyed full and equal civil rights.

In 1938 Mussolini, under the pressure from Hitler, introduced the Racial Laws that meant that Jews were to be purged from the party, armed forces, civil service, school and University and to be deprived of Italian passports. My father, who imported goods from abroad, was forbidden to travel and this seriously damaged his business. My sisters and I could not go to school with the other children; we went to school in the afternoon, when all other pupils were at home.

On June, 1940, a few days after Italy entered into the war on the side of Germany, my father was arrested and sent to an internment camp. Some months later, he was released... After a period spent in a small village in Southern Italy, he was allowed to reside in Trieste, so in 1942 all my family moved there.

My uncle Edo’s brother Hinko had managed to escape from Yugoslavia, but when he and his friends arrived in Italy, they were arrested and sent to Perugia. There, Hinko met a Franciscan friar, Father Michele Todde. Hinko asked if, in the case of extreme difficulty, he could help us. Father Todde agreed to do what he could. That’s the reason we decide to seek refuge in Assisi when the German occupation began.

We moved first to Perugia and there, in two rented rooms, we waited for our documents to move to Assisi. At the end of November a notice was published announcing that all the Jews resident in Perugia had to report to the police headquarters before December 8. We couldn’t wait any longer. We left for Assisi.

When we arrived, we were housed in the guest room of the Monastery of Santa Croce. The Nuns observed a strict enclosure. Contacts with the outside world were maintained by nuns who didn’t make vow of seclusion. One of them, Sister Fidele welcomed us and from that moment onwards, she provided for our needs. Shortly after we entered the convent, we met with Reverend Mother in the parlor. We were separated by two grilles. My mother thanked her for the hospitality. The old nun blessed us and expressed her hope that peace might prevail on earth.
At Christmas, the nuns invited us to attend Midnight Mass. Some German soldiers were seated in the first rows. We didn’t know what to do. We tried to imitate people seated on the other side of the chapel. Without the documents, we spent our days in constant fear of being discovered and we could not receive rations. The nuns gave us a delicious bread soup every morning. At lunchtime, my sisters brought some food from another convent.

Finally we received our documents. We became the Bartoli Family from Bolan, a small town in Southern Italy in the hands of the Allies. My new name was Leana Bartoli. The Bishop kept our original papers. With the new documents, we moved to the convent of the Stigmatines. Thanks to the false identities we were able to leave the convent for a walk. I didn’t go to school. Don Aldo provided to my studies, so I didn’t miss a school year.

On June 17, 1944 Assisi was liberated by the Allied troops. After the liberation, we decided to move to Israel. I left Assisi at the end of January. I was excited, but at the same time sad, because I was leaving all the people who had helped us.

During the period we spent in Assisi, no attempt was made to convert us to Catholicism. Bishop Nicolini, Don Aldo, Father Rufino and all the others who helped us, risking their lives, did it only because they believed it was the right thing to do, as men and as religious.