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under my skin, barely able to move, I went back to the countryside to reconnect. While he was heading towards Pielungo to bring to the commano of Osoppo a list with the names of the partisan to be linked together, he fell into an ambush of the SS. If at the moment he would not have bet a penny on his life, he did not want to risk that of others and, taking advantage of a moment of distraction from the soldiers, he was able to break up the list and eat it all. Easy enough to swallow the first pieces, I'll tell you later. Tiring to get the others down, if he had at least had some water.

While the truck was heading towards the Platz Kommandatur, he decided not to be questioned by the commander of the patrol, with a reputation for letting the dead speak and known in Friuli with the nickname "the Executioner." While they were changing a flat tire he got down to go and pee. He slipped into a cornfield, immediately chased by the SS. He managed to avoid the bursts of machine guns and then to lose his tracks. Despite still limping from the wound, always running and never stopping, he covered fifty kilometer sin a single day.

For a month we had heard nothing more. In the meantime, in our campaign, if the rumor had spread that he had been shot, it was said that he was hanged.

One day Francesca told me to follow her to my former room. We found Federico and a badly shaven man. Although I did not hint to open my mouth, I was immediately told not to ask questions. They tied small cloth bags around my waist, telling me to be careful not to lose them as they contained a lot of money. They made me wear a furry sweater and, over it, a school apron with the collar embroidered by the nuns. They shoved a couple of books under my arm.

I dared to remark that I could not go to school, as it was closed for the summer holidays. In response,...