Cesare Spaviero 1921 - 1945

Born 11.11.1921 in Carpi
Died 12.3.1945 in Mauthausen

Biography

 

Cesarino Mario Spaviero was born in Carpi, a small hamlet in Villabartolomea (Verona) on 11 November 1921. He lived there with his family until 1929, when they moved to Pontecurone. His father Virginio, his mother Angela Maria Sboarina (nicknamed “Mora” for her brown hair), his siblings Ilario, Cesarino, Argelide (nicknamed “Velia”) and Lino made up his family. They made a flat in via Cesare Battisti 9/C their home, in the big Commenda neighbourhood, where his father worked as a labourer and guardian in the nearby Cotonificio Bustese (cotton mill). When Cesarino became 14 years old, he was sent to work as a furnace man and a bricklayer.

On 6 January 1941 he was recalled by the Army and joined the 38º Reggimento Fanteria “Ravenna” (Infantry regiment) in Tortona. In September he moved to the 2º Reggimento Genio (Corps of Engineers regiment) to attend the wireless transmission course. In April, 1942, he was transferred to the 101ª Compagnia Radiotelegrafisti (W/T Company) of the 2º Corpo d’Armata (Army Corps). On 19 June 1942, he left for Russia as a W/T operator, where he remained until 28 February 1943.

On the Russian front, in the Don river bend area, he received a field citation on 17 December 1942, awarded by the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force) Eastern Front commander, Generale B.A. Enrico Pezzi (Brigadier). His Army sheet records his situation later on as “disbanded after the Armistice”, which took place on 8 September 1943.

It is known for certain that he fled away first to his family home and soon afterwards to the nearby home of the Rezia family. Lest his hosting family got into trouble, his father’s and the Rezia family’s opposition notwithstanding, he left his hiding place in the garret and joined a local group of partisans, who were hiding in the rural farmhouses in the Casalnoceto and Volpedo neighbourhoods. Most likely he was never seen again by his family.

From the available documents it appears that Cesarino Spaviero, known then by his nom de guerre “Carpi” (from his birth place), was with the Distaccamento “Po” belonging to the 58º Battaglione (Battalion), under the command of Comandante Marco (Franco Anselmi).

Later, after the birth of the Brigata “Arzani” (Brigade) and the arrival in the area of some new detachments, moved there by Comandante Marco, Cesarino Spaviero was transferred to the Distaccamento “Cornaggia”, which was fighting in Val Curone and Val Borbera. During the big rounding-up operations by the Nazi-Fascist forces at the end of 1944, Comandante Marco agreed to the request by most of his troops to be moved to the plain between Pontecurone and Castelnuovo Scrivia, hiding there in some farms (Piccagallo, La Bossola, San Carlo, La Bidella). Some troops from the Brigata “Arzani” remained in the hills to fight and co-operate with the other brigades. Among them were some commanders (Marco himself at the beginning), the members of the Distaccamento “Volante” and some partisans from the “Cornaggia” and “Fracchia” detachments, which most likely included Cesarino Spaviero.

The only certain bits of information about those days are that the round-up had been very heavy on 14 December 1944 in the Borbera-Curone area and that Cesarino was captured on 22 December on the southern slopes of Mount Giarolo near Volpara (some documents report Garbagna as the place of his capture, but several accounts from survivors do not support this hypothesis). Along with him a partisan from Casalnoceto was captured, Armido Palazzoli (nom de guerre “Mollusco”).

After his capture all traces of him disappeared for about a week (he was transferred first to Montecapraro, then Varzi, Voghera and Milano). The San Vittore (Milano) prison records show he was registered there on 30 December (German Register no. 236, registration no. 1023). His mother and another relative tried to visit him, having learnt where he was being kept, but a meeting was denied by the authorities (possibly to prevent them to see signs of beatings and torture). The aforementioned register also records, on 16 January 1945, his transfer to the Polizei-Durchgangslager Bozen (prisoner camp) passing through Verona. He left Bolzano on 2 February 1945 for the Mauthausen Camp, where he arrived on 4 February and received the registration number 126442.

On the train that carried him to his tragic end he travelled along with Armido Palazzoli (“Mollusco”, who survived and was able to tell his story), Franco Cremanti from Casalnoceto (“Scott”, who was captured in his home by Italian Bersaglieri of the Repubblica Sociale) and the 19-years-old Vittorio Baiardi (“Francesco”, belonging to the Brigata “Cornaggia”, captured in Varzi at the end of December).

According to “Mollusco”’s account, they got separated in Mauthausen and he could learn nothing more afterwards about his companions. Cesarino Mario Spaviero was officially declared dead on 10 January 1951, when the register office in Pontecurone registered him as a missing war casualty according to the documents sent by the Ministry of Defence. In the records of the Mauthausen Memorial Cesarino appears to have died on 12 March 1945.

He has been recognized as a partigiano combattente – an Italian official recognition confirming the actual membership in the Italian fighting partisan units in WW2, as opposed to unconfirmed participation or other civilian roles in the Resistance.

 

Marzia Cadenini and Michele Soffiantini, ANPI Pontecurone (AL) Italy

English translation by Roberto Chiarvetto

 

Sources:

ARCHIVIO Memoriale dei Partigiani, ANPI Pontecurone, Sezione “Regazzi-Spaviero”

ARCHIVIO Comune Pontecurone

ARCHIVIO di Stato Alessandria

ARCHIVIO di Stato Milano

AROLSEN Archives, International Center on Nazi Persecution

ISRAL, Istituto Storico per la Storia della Resistenza Alessandria

KZ-Gedenkstätte MAUTHAUSEN – Archives Memorial

MINISTERO della DIFESA, Ufficio per la Tutela della Cultura e della Memoria della Difesa, Roma 

 

Literature:

ANONIMO, Storia della Brigata Arzani, in Istituto Ligure per la Storia della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea

AA.VV., Le genti che passeranno, Quaderni della Biblioteca Comunale “S. Castelli” di Pontecurone, Vol. III, 2015

AA.VV., Quando arrivava Pippo …, Quaderni della Biblioteca Comunale “S. Castelli” di Pontecurone, Vol. VI, 2018

AA.VV., Pietre, mattoni e memoria …, Quaderni della Biblioteca Comunale “S. Castelli” di Pontecurone, Vol. IX, 2022

BERNINI Fabrizio, Il Guerrigliero – Franco Anselmi “Marco”, Libri nel tempo, 2009

BERNINI F., Nel sangue fino alle ginocchia, Ultrapadanum Mensile di Storia, Libri nel tempo, 2011

LAZAGNA Giambattista, Ponte Rotto, Edizioni Colibrì, 1996

MORONI Camillo, Parlano ancora – Testimonianze della Resistenza nell’Oltrepò Pavese e nella Val di Nizza, Guardamagna Editori in Varzi, 2013

MUSEO Nazionale della Resistenza, Milano

MUSSIO Osvaldo, Ricordiamoli, Quaderni della Biblioteca Comunale “P.A. Soldini”, Castelnuovo Scrivia, 1995

RAVAZZI Beppe, I Guerriglieri dell’Arzani, Tortona, 1965

VALSESIA William, La Provincia di Alessandria nella Resistenza, Torino, 1981

Location In room