São Paulo – In 1943, as Nazi persecution intensified in Italy, the Pardo family risked everything to survive. Guided by a smuggler and sheer courage, they crossed the Alps on foot toward Switzerland. Among them was Ariella Pardo Segre, then only three years old, who would later recall:

I slept while walking.

I slept while walking.

After Mussolini’s return to power and the Gestapo’s presence in Bologna, Ferrucio Pardo, a philosophy professor, became a direct target. Warned by their neighbor Alfredo Giommi, he, his wife Íris Volli, and their children Lucio and Ariella began a clandestine escape.

We fled with only the clothes on........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)