National Content: Italy

Silla G. Parapini’s diary

Details
SourceDiary
Event referred toJune 6th, 1944: the D-day
Technological characteristicsType of file: Text
Extension of the file: pdf
Dimension: 103 KB
Availability proposed: Full availability
Description of the sourceKind of source: Diary’s pages
Origin of the source: Writer of the diary
Language: Italian
Copyright issues: Full availability
Contextualisation of the sourceThe text presented here is an extract from war diary of Silla G. Parapini, written during his years of imprisonment in the German concentration camps. As an Italian soldier, he was imprisoned by the Germans after the Armistice between Italy and the Allies.
Interpretation of the sourceThe events told are interesting most of all for the way in which they are brought back: fear and hope meet each other and allow to comprehend the love for life that each man has. The landing in Normandy from the point of view of an Italian prisoner: the hope it represents the beginning of a new life.
Original ContentsDal diario di guerra di Silla G. Parapini, nato a Brescia il 6 Gennaio 1923. Dal 25 Marzo 1943 fu nominato sottotenente in servizio permanente _84° corso_ . Prigioniero di guerra n. 23173 (dal 1943 al 1945) nei campi di concentramento nazisti di: - Deblin Irena (Polonia) - ARI Lager (Polonia) - Sandbostel (Germania Nord-Ovest) - Norimberga Langwasser (Germania Centro-Sud) - Gross Hesepe (Germania Ovest) - Nordhorn (Germania Ovest) Mentre scrisse i fatti sotto riportati si trovava nel campo di concentramento di Sandbostel, anno 1944.
30 Maggio, Martedì
[…] La massa pessimista non crede più nemmeno in un prossimo sbarco e in una imminente risoluzione del conflitto. Io no! Credo fermamente che il prossimo mese ci porterà qualche grossa novità e, in ogni caso, che il prossimo Natale lo faremo a casa.
6 Giugno, Martedì
[…] Ieri ho scommesso con un collega che entro il mese corrente gli inglesi sbarcheranno in Europa. Prezzo della scommessa: tutti i viveri del 1° Luglio […] .
Ore 15.30 – Stavo dormendo nella cuccetta, dopo il solito pasto unico quando vengo svegliato da urla e grida di gioia. Gli anglo-americani sono sbarcati a Boulogne e in altri punti sulla Manica. FINALMENTE!!! Lo sentivo che qualche cosa in questi giorni sarebbe avvenuta, ma non mi aspettavo così presto. Proprio ieri l’amico con cui ho scommesso che gli Alleati sarebbero sbarcati in questo mese mi ha tirato in giro per mezz’ora. La notizia ci è stata portata da tedeschi stessi. Mentre scrivo un collega sta parlando, in baracca, su Pascoli e sulla sua poesia, sta recitando il X Agosto.
9 Giugno, Giovedì
9 mesi di prigionia! Quanti altri ancora? Per fortuna stanno giungendo notizie sempre migliori ed entusiasmanti dello sbarco anglo-americano sulla Manica […] .
12 Giugno, Domenica
I tedeschi hanno appeso cartelli nel campo dei francesi con la scritta: “Francesi arruolatevi, la vostra patria è in pericolo”. […]
Original Contents (English Translation)

Extract from the war diary of Silla G. Parapini

From the war diary of Silla G. Parapini, born in Brescia on January 6th, 1923. On March 25th, 1943 he was appointed second lieutenant on active service. German Prisoner of War n. 23173 (from 1943 to 1945) in the Nazi’s camp of: Deblin Irena (Poland), ARI Lager (Poland), Sandbostel (North-Western Germany), Nuremberg Langwasser (Centre-Southern Germany), Gross Hesepe (Western Germany), Nordhorn (Western Germany). While he wrote the extract translated he was in the camp of Sandbostel, where he was imprisoned during 1944.
Tuesday, May 30th, 1944 […] The crowd is pessimist and doesn’t believe anymore in an incoming landing and end of the conflict. Not me! I do believe that the next month is going to bring us great news and that, in any case, we’ll pass next Christmas at home.
Tuesday, June 6th, 1944 […] Yesterday I bet with a colleague that within next month English will land in Europe. The price of the bet is the hole food of July 1st. […] . 3.30 p.m. – I was sleeping on my bunk, after the usual unique meal, when I’m waked up with screams of joy. Anglo-Americans have landed in Boulogne and other beaches of the English Channel. At long last!!! I felt that something would have happened in these days, but I couldn’t expect it so quickly. Just yesterday the friend whom I bet that the Allies would have landed during this month pulled my legs for half an hour. Germans gave us the news of the landing. While I’m writing, a colleague is speaking, in the barrack, about Giovanni Pascoli and his poetry, and he is reciting “X agosto”. [G. Pascoli is one of the most famous Italian poets of the XX century; X agosto – August 10th – is one of his best poems]
Thursday, June 9th, 1944 Today is my ninth month of imprisoning! How many remaining? Fortunately are coming better and enthusiastic news about the Anglo-American campaign in Northern France […] .
Sunday, June 12th, 1944 Germans are putting notices in the French camp where is written: «French enrol! Your fatherland is in danger!» […].