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Pietro Arnaldo Terzi 1883 - 1944 Edit

Born 20.11.1883 in Sarzana
Died 13.11.1944 in Hartheim

Biography

Pietro Arnaldo Terzi attended the L. Costa humanist grammar school in La Spezia, became an active member of the Socialist Party of Sarzana, graduated in law and moved to Aulla (Massa), where he practised his profession while devoting much of his time to producing propaganda for the Socialist Party. At the end of the First World War he renewed his work as a lawyer as well as his activities with his Socialist comrades.

In November 1920 Terzi and Alfredo Poggi, also from Sarzana, were at the top of the Socialist electoral list, which had won the local elections. Terzi was elected mayor.

In the dramatic days of 20 and 21 July 1921, the police and population of Sarzana were pursued by a mob of over 500 Fascists who were attacking the town. While these brutal clashes were going on, mayor Terzi tried to mediate between the Arditi del Populo (People’s Fighters) and the Fascists.

Over the following months, the town administration under Terzi was subjected to all manner of inspections and complaints, which only ended when the mayor resigned. The response of the population in the subsequent elections was shocking: all seats fell to the two Fascist lists that stood for election. The Fascists threatened Terzi and he was subjected to violent attacks so that he could no longer practise his profession. When the violence of the storm troops also began to extend to his family, he moved to Sestri Levante (Genoa), spending the 1930s under constant police surveillance.

In 1942 his request to be removed from the list of subversive elements was granted and he was no longer subject to constant monitoring. But after the establishment of the Fascist Repubblica Sociale Italiana and the German occupation, the former mayor’s subsequent fate was sealed. He was among the twelve individuals who are believed to have been detained in Sestri Levante and handed over to the German SS. He was taken to the Genoese Marassi prison on 21 February 1944 and then to the Fossoli transit camp, from where he was deported on 21 June 1944 with transport no. 53 to Mauthausen concentration camp (prisoner number 76672). There he was sent to the infirmary camp (or 'Russian camp'). He died on 13 November 1944 in Hartheim.

On 5 May 2007 the La Spezia section of the ANED and the town of Sarzana put up a plaque in his honour in Hartheim Castle:

'THE LAWYER PIETRO ARNALDO TERZI WAS MAYOR OF THE DEMOCRATIC MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF SARAZANA FROM 1920 TO 1922. ON BEHALF OF THE TOWN HE LED THE RESISTANCE TO THE RISE OF FASCISM DURING THE EVENTS OF 21 JULY 1921.

FOR THIS REASON HE WAS PROHIBITED FROM PRACTISING HIS PROFESSION AS A LAWYER AND SUBJECTED TO ALL MANNER OF HUMILIATION AND PERSECUTION DURING THE TWENTY YEARS OF FASCIST RULE.

DURING THE OCCUPATION HE WAS DENOUNCED. CONFIDENT OF HIS INNOCENCE, HE DID NOT FLEE HIS ARREST.

HE WAS DEPORTED TO MAUTHAUSEN AND DIED IN SCHLOSS HARTHEIM.

THE TOWN OF SARZANA ESTEEMS HIM AMONG ITS GREATEST SONS AS A MARTYR OF FREEDOM AND DEFENDER OF DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS.'

Doriana Ferrato

ANED, La Spezia section

 

Sources:

Archive of ANED, La Spezia section, Directory of those deported to the Mauthausen extermination camp, recorded by the section.

References:

G.U. 1968 Sup. N. 130 22-5.

Valeria Morelli: I deportati italiani nei campi di sterminio 1943–1945 [Italian deportees to the extermination camps 1943–1945] (Milan 1965).

Italo Tibaldi: Compagni di viaggio. Dall'Italia ai lager nazisti. I “trasporti” dei deportati 1943–45 [Travelling Companions. From Italy to the Nazi camps. The ‘transports’ of the deportees 1943–1945] (Milan 1995).

 

Various authors: Socialismo spezzino 1892–1945. Appunti per una storia [La Spezia Socialism 1892–1945. Notes on a history] (Pontremoli, Massa 2011).

Translation into English: Joanna White

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