Farewell to partisan Iole Mancini, the last witness of the horrors of Via Tasso
She was tortured by the Nazis without ever giving in. She died at 104 years old
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Iole Mancini , the last partisan witness to the Nazi horrors of Via Tasso , a place sadly known for the torture of the SS, died at the age of 104. Mancini, born in Nemi on 19 February 1920, also entered the prison, which has now become a museum. Her husband Ernesto Borghesi, Silver Medal, took part in the action of Via Rasella and the failed attack on Vittorio Mussolini.
The woman, in the days immediately preceding the liberation of Rome, was arrested, interrogated and tortured by the SS (by Kappler himself), in prison. They wanted to extort from her the place where her then boyfriend Ernesto Borghesi, who had escaped from Regina Coeli, was hiding. But Iole did not speak. "Ciao Iole, we will miss you terribly", wrote the Anpi on Facebook.
In the post, the memory of what the partisan experienced: tragic moments that contributed to writing the History of Italy. "The Germans, fleeing from the arrival of the Allies, loaded all the prisoners held in the prison onto three trucks, but the truck on which Iole was, due to a breakdown, did not start. The prisoners of the other two trucks were all massacred in La Storta. In these years, she never failed to give her testimony, meeting dozens of classes in schools, participating in our initiatives, always lucid and generous in calling us to the values of freedom and justice of the Resistance. She leaves a great void, Bella Ciao Iole".
The woman was received by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella , on June 10, 2022, on April 25 of the same year from the stage of the ANPI demonstration at Porta San Paolo she went to the heart of the message of the Resistance: "Today - the woman said in a thin voice, - young people perhaps do not realize that they live in a free country , they are free to express themselves, to walk. We did not, there was a fascist dictatorship and everything was very difficult. You are young, study - is the appeal - make your career, this means Resistance, being able to get on this stage is a great joy". And she said goodbye by singing - faintly but with iron will - 'Bella Ciao', amid the emotion of those present.
(Unioneonline/vf)
