After September 8, 1943 some premises of the National Boarding School “Marco Foscarini” were used as a temporary detention center for several Jews, especially women and children. Among these there was also the Grassini family formed by his father Raffaele, his mother Lina and his two sons Angelo and Mirna.
From the testimony of Loris Volpato, friend of Angelo Grassini:
“One day my mother and Aunt Mary decided to visit them and brought me and my sister too. We went to foscarini, the big room was full of people, a vision that I will never forget. The faces of the people stopped were tense; those of the great expressed concern and fear, the children were tired and in tears. Meanwhile my mother had found our friends; it was then that a policeman gave her advice: “When she leaves you also take the lady’s little ones”. Unfortunately, mom didn’t agree to part with it: “I didn’t do anything wrong, why should I deprive myself of it?”
Maria Teresa Sega, The empty bench. School and Racial Laws. Venenzia 1938-45 , Cierre Edizioni, Verona, 2018, p. 126
Convitto Nazionale Marco Foscarini
