“THEY MADE US GET OUT AND WALK TOWARDS THE CAMP. ON ONE SIDE OF THE ROAD WAS A LAKE. WE WALKED, LOOKED AND DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT WAS.“

Because of the Italianization of the Slovenian population by the will of the fascist regime, Vilma had to change her name. Her family traded in fruit and vegetables and she had been involved in this business since she was a little girl. She was arrested for her active involvement in the resistance movement in Gorizia, placed in the local prison and on 24 February 1945 transported first to Ravensbrück and later to Bergen-Belsen on the last known train to depart from the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral. After liberation by the Allied troops, she was infected with typhus. But she was able to save herself and returned to Gorizia, where she lived for the rest of her life.  

 

Patrizia Del Col
Italy
A friend of Vilma Braini