Descrizione

Aldo Pantozzi (1919-1995) was arrested on December 1st 1944 by agents of the Sicherheitsdienst and taken to Trento prison, where he was held until January 10th 1945. He was then transferred to the Lager of Bolzano, where he was detained until February 1st 1945, the dat he was deported to the extermination camp of Mauthausen. First published in 1946, just a year after the beginning of the events narrated, Pantozzi’s autobiographical reconstruction is the chilling tale of 100 days spent in the inferno of this concentration camp. The account is a raw, direct testimony recalling the ineffable horrors and suffering of Mauthausen as well as e precious historical document reflecting the author’s extraordinary humanity.

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Dominic Stewart is associate professor of English Language and Italian-English translation at the Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, University of Trento. He has published extensively on translation and linguistics

Rodolfo Taiani is head of publishing at the Fondazione Museo storico del Trentino. He has published widely, specialising in the social history of public health and medical assistance.

Sommario

Premise, di Rodolfo Taiani

Introduction, di Ada Neiger

Aldo Pantozzi: biographical notes

IN THE EYES OF DEATH

• Premise
• Saint’s Day
• «Durchgangslager»
• Block E
• The La Spezia group
• Visiting the Ukrainians
• Freedom rains down from the sky
• Towards the unknown
• Goodbye Italy!
• The cattle-train
• Mauthausen
• Pillage and crime
• «Ruski-Lager»: Block 1
• Food and rest
• Buried alive
• The «Weberei»
• Work, lashes, hunger
• Block 9: the end of the Weberei
• Elimination by starvation
• The «Zugang»
• The gas chambers
• Liberation
• Mario’s diary

TESTIMONIES, translated by Elisa Zambiasi

• Arturo Banterla
• Mario Gianardi
• Father Guido Pedrotti
• Adriano Rigouard
• Sergio Rossetti
• Vittoriano Zaccherini

References

Index of names