Ugo Sereni in a class photo, the first on the bottom right.
In 1943, due to the occupation by the German army, they had to flee to Belluno and later to Milan. Here, his brother Ugo tried to organize the passage to Switzerland with his friend and schoolmate Adolfo Nunes Vais. However, no success. In March 1944, when Paolo was not yet seventeen, they had to return to Venice after discovering their mother was ill. One of those days, while they were at home, German officials went to arrest them, taking Paolo, his brother, and his father to prison in S. Maria Maggiore. Later their mother was also arrested after she went to ask about them.
They were all transported by bus to San Sabba. In 1945 Paolo and his brothers were deported to Ravensbruck while their father was taken to Auschwitz. As for her mother, she was killed after returning to reclaim the money taken several times from her by the German commander Franz Stangl and the informer Mauro Grini to avoid arrest.
Paolo was the only one in my family who survived. In November 1945, he returned to Venice to carry on the business of their family shop.
Luckily, his memories of 1942-1943 are not only harmful but also concerned with memories of some moments of leisure and entertainment spent with friends from other schools, such as Foscarini, Marco Polo, the Sisters of Nevers, etc. They liked going to the cinema or spending the summers at the Lido and doing many other activities.
On September 8, 1943, the occupation of Italy by the German army surprised many Jewish residents. However, his mother, Giannina Bordignon, a Catholic, and his sister, who was also considered Jewish by law, remained in Venice.
On the other hand, his brother, his father, and Paolo were welcomed near Belluno in the villa of a very dear friend, thanks to whom they moved to Milan after a couple of months.
After the publication of the Buffarini Guidi decree, we decided to remain hidden in Milan so as not to risk being taken as some of our friends. Sometime later, their mother, still in Venice and very ill, begged them to join her, relying on the rules for “mixed” Jews.
In 1943 they returned to Venice, still hidden and on alert. Then, finally, in 1944, with the succession of various events, there was an air of hope. Slowly, the most important Italian cities and the other allied countries were liberated. For his family and Paolo, however, hope vanished because they were all locked up in the prison of Santa Maria Maggiore.
From the testimony of Paolo Sereni