Angela Gandini

On 18 September 1943, Angela learned that some English former PoWs had found refuge in the area after their escape from PG. 112/2 (La Mandria). The girl spoke some English and trusted it was enough to communicate. After their first meeting, she kept bringing them food, clothes, and money every Sunday.

At the beginning of December 1943, Jenkins fell ill, and Angela brought him to her home, where she lived with her parents. On 6 January 1944, however, he was captured by the Germans, while the other two escapees managed to flee the area, helped by the locals. In February, after the arrest of two other helpers, Guido Cavallito and Carlo Carli, they were transferred to Turin, to Luigi Migliavacca’s home, and, in April 1944, they managed to cross into Switzerland.

After Jenkins’ arrest, Angela’s home was searched and she was taken to the German headquarters for questioning: They preached me a nice sermon saying that if they caught me again, they would shoot me.»

In September 1944, the new Fascist presidio searched Angela’s home again, and found the papers on which she had noted down the escapees’ names and addresses. The Fascists confiscated all her notebooks in English, a radio, and some underwear. Angela’s parents, Adolfo and Giuseppina, were arrested. Giuseppina would end up in the Bolzano concentration camp, where she remained until April 1945. Adolfo, sentenced to a year in prison in Turin, was released after a month. Angela, instead, managed to flee to the mountains, where she joined the local partisans. However, on 11 January 1945, she was captured and forced to work for the Germans, before being transferred to a prison in Turin, where she remained for two months.

We do not wish to claim any compensation for what we have done for our dear British friends: if possible, my father would like to have another radio bought for him, considering that we can no longer afford one.