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It was a day of October 1938
My grandmother, eldest of seven children
is sent to work in a textile factory for the uniforms of the military in Caselle Torinese,
a village 500 kilometers away from where she lived.
And 'housed in a boarding school for orphans. She was 14.
They sleep in sixty in a single large room on the first floor of a large building taken care of by nuns.
She stays there for almost three years without leaving it, not even to go home, ever.
Until war breaks out.
Begin bombing the airport nearby, she decides to quit.
Someone does not take it very well, and she is sent home
forcing her to leave everything there except that she was wearing.
She was 17.
October 26, 2008
my grandmother back in the same place after 70 years,
and find everything just as she had left it
walls, doors, windows, many broken.
Coming back to a place after years and find it changed would be a normal thing,
but come back after almost a century and find it as it was left,
brings back the old memories as if they were still alive.
70 years later.
that, there it is
I used to came from there
oh my god ... I can't believe, the wall is still there !
Here is the gate, we used to go under it and it is still as it once was !
Here it is, we used to go in through that door over there, can you see it ? That one
My God, just park in front of it. May we ? Of course we may.
Yes, yes, it is the same, my God.
See that small door ? Here ther'was the "Fuja", a little room where they used to frisk you to check if you were smuggling anything away.
I'm going to read what it says
Let's see
Look David
I remember going in through there
I went in through there
It's all as it used to be
It's all as it used to be
I used to come out through here and in through there
See, I worked in there, I had to turn there and used to work.
Over here we did the weaving, and over there the spinning
It's all as it used to be 70 years ago
I was 17
We used to go in through that small door over there, and then we went that way
Oh my God
So many years have gone by, my God !
There is no one to ask ?
From here then we used to go down there
How many times I have walked past here!
David, over there there used to be a dicth and a man used to weave there
And one day he was arrested, he used to put a syllable in every shirt, he was a spy for the Germans
So many years have gone by, so many years, I was a child, carefree, so stupid and so foolish
We used to come here and worked in shifts, from 6 am to 2 pm and then from 2 pm to 10 pm
And look, now I am an old hag I have come back here to see what it was like when I was a young girl
And everything is just as it once was, the blinds as well, look, look
The balconies, they have not changed anything, it's all like 100 years ago, like 100 years ago, I can't believe it
We used to come here with Celestina, we went in through here
The last time we walked out, we went back home and we never came back
I left here my dress, my shoes, my slippers, everything
That nasty nun who sent us home without saying goodbye to anyone
Excuse me, madam …
Please, go on and walk with her …
Where did we come from ? Just drop me here, I'll go inside
Stop here, I'm sure it's here, David, please stop stop, I use to go in through there, I know it was here
Keep it upright, granny, please keep it upright
Here it is, here it is, I used to go in through here I used to go in through that door, in that door
I can remember it quite well, I can remember it quite well
I used to go in through this door here, it's through here I used to go in, through here; throuh here
This was the door
I can remember
I used to go in through here, this is the door
This was
This was the door
Here
I'm sure
I used to go in through here, this is the door
Oh my Lord, so many years have gone by !
There used to be a step here
They used to bring in the material through here and we used to go in through here, yes, this is it
Here they used to do the spinning, and we went in through here
Oh my Lord, I have seen once again the door too
a century has passed, a century has passed
What is written here
The trolleys would go up through here, they used to go up through here
I have seen it all once again. We would go out through here
Oh my Lord, it's been ages ago
A lifetime
David, that is the door
That's where I used to go in, through that door which is now closed
I remember they used to do the spinning here, you know, the spinning
you know, the spinning
My goodness, well, I never …
Oh my God, Davi, look what I have to go through again
I would go out through there
I'm going to say thank to the lady, you know
And the boarding school that was there, is it still there ?
That one, right ? I know I would go along this road, I would go in in with the girls
I used to work from 6 am to 2 pm and from 2 pm to 10 pm
Then the war broke out
Davi, we used to go in through here, this is the door
Here was a small church
My goodness, look …
It's all destroyed, the church was here, here
(she tries to find the window her bed used to be under)
As it used to be
(I found as I had left)