Luigi Francioli  

My name is Luigi Francioli, I was born in January, 1919. I worked as a laborer. On August 25, 1944, I was arrested. On that same day, there was an attack: a partisan on a motorcycle attacked a car with German soldiers and after shooting the driver of the car, Lieutenant Klebs left. I was stopped on the street by the Nazis, but I didn’t have my ID with me, so I ran away and hid in a basement. Unfortunately they found me and took me to prison in Domodossola, telling me that I would be "safe and free". It was 9.30 in the morning when a group of Nazis entered the prison, took a random hostage, dragged him to the courtyard, slammed him against the wall, and then shot him. I saw the whole scene and began to get scared. At 12 o'clock, they took me and Renato Bertolotti, an 18-year-old from Besozzo, as hostages, they dragged us to the courtyard and shot us. We were terrified. We died on August 26, 1944 in the prison of Domodossola. It was the Nazi revenge for the wounding of Lieutenant Klebs. Today, I am remembered as a civilian victim of the German occupation.