Overview
- Interview Summary
- Enza di Cave, born on January 2, 1928 in Velletri, Lazio, discusses her family, including her three siblings and her parents; her family evading deportation and surviving the war; the lack of antisemitism before the Germans came to Rome in 1938; the fascism under Mussolini, and having to give up their gold before 1938; visiting Rome with her family to visit her grandparents and relatives; her grandfather Angelo Di Castro, who was a journalist, reporting his concerns to the family in May 1938 when the Germans had started arriving in Rome; seeing announcements in the paper that Jewish children could not attend school and that Jewish families could not have help in their homes; her family planning to move to France, but being thwarted when the deportations of Jews began in October 1938; her uncle reporting to them what was happening in Rome on October 16, 1938 after walking several hours from Rome to Velletri; going into hiding with her family; staying in their villa in the countryside; knowing 22 people who were sent to concentration camps including all her grandparents; deciding they were no longer safe in the villa and hiding with the help of farmers; staying in wine cantinas and moving around a lot; her father, who had to wear a disguise because he was well-known in the area; her father obtaining false documents that made the family’s name “Di Carlo”; how the Germans would regularly go to the countryside to get food and there was one German doctor who took an interest in Enza and wanted to marry her when the war was over (he did not know they were Jewish and they would entertain the idea of her marrying him to keep him happy); hearing sirens on September 8, 1943 and a lot of the people of Velletri hiding in caves; discovering the whole town had been destroyed after the sirens stopped; moving Monte Mario, where they lived in an apartment; how German soldiers would often knock at the door as they would get the home confused with the neighbors who were prostitutes; continuing to live in great fear; hearing about the liberation and seeing the German tanks running from the Allied forces; and her worries for future generations and her hope that they can avoid another event similar to the Holocaust.
- Interviewee
- Enza Di Cave
- Date
-
interview:
2010 February 10
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ariel Baron
Physical Details
- Language
- Italian
- Genre/Form
- Oral histories.
- Extent
-
1 DVD-ROM.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Altruism. Antisemitism. Farms--Italy. Hiding places. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Italy--Personal narratives. Identification cards--Forgeries--Italy. Jewish families--Italy. Jews--Italy--Velletri. Jews--Persecutions--Italy. Passing (Identity)--Italy. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Italy. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Italy--History--German occupation, 1943-1945. Monte Mario (Rome, Italy) Rome (Italy) Velletri (Italy)
- Personal Name
- Di Cave, Enza.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Ariel Baron
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Ariel Baron produced the interview with Enza Di Cave in Rome, Italy on February 10, 2010. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the interview in July 2010.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:19:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn42742
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