Amalia and Lina were born in Venice to Attilio Navarro (who died in 1934 due to a serious illness) and Judith Aboaf. They have two brothers: Bruno (1916) and Achilles (1921).
During the German occupation of Venice they remained in Venice with their mother and brother Achilles, while Bruno found refuge in a convent in Rome.
They managed to escape the great raid of the night between 5 and 6 December 1943 and for a while they found refuge from a cousin who was married to a Catholic. Following a denunciation, they were arrested on May 5, 1944 and taken to Santa Maria Maggiore Prison, where they remained until May 30.
They are then taken to the camp of Fossoli and then Auschwitz on 24 June.
Upon their arrival, their mother (born in 1894) was immediately sent to the gas chambers, while Amalia, Lina and Achilles were registered and interned. Achilles died a few months later.
On 31 October 1944, Amalia and Lina were transferred to Berghen-Belsen and then to Raghun (Buchenwald subcamp) on 7 February 1945. In mid-April they were moved to Theresienstadt, which had been liberated and was under the administration of the Red Cross.
Shortly thereafter they moved to Prague (to a reception institute for former prisoners called the “House of Italy”) and finally to a collection camp in Wiener Neustadt, near Vienna. They returned to Italy on August 20, 1945, after passing through Hungary and again to Austria.
In Venice they managed to take possession of their home again. Amalia found a job at a company and Lina as a coatcheck assistant in a hotel.
In 1950, Lina married Mario Saba and the two had a daughter.
Amalia died in 2004 and Lina in 2000.
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