Monza: commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Cibeno Massacre with the laying of new Stumbling Stones.

Today, Monday 2 December, at the Council Hall of the Municipality of Monza, a meeting was held the commemorative ceremony for the 80th anniversary of the Cibeno Massacre, in which 67 people already detained in the Fossoli Camp lost their lives.

The event is organized in collaboration with ANED (National Association of Former Deportees in Nazi Camps) and The MB Stumbling Stones Committee with the participation of the authorities, numerous students and citizens.

The interventions

The ceremony began at 10 am in the council chamber with some institutional interventions, including a historical introduction by Pietro Arienti, a contribution by the President of the Pietre d'Inzampo MB Committee Fabio Lopez Nunes, by the President of the National ANED Dario Venegoni and by the Mayor of Monza, Paolo Pilotto.

Youth participation

The ceremony saw a significant participation of the students: dafter the national anthem performed by the students of the Bonatti Middle School, the pupils of the Zucchi Classical High School, the Nanni Valentini Art High School and the Volta Primary School were the protagonists of the reading of the biographies and the documentation of the event. In particular, the students of the Liceo Artistico Nanni Valentini created a video to document the laying process of the Stones in via Gambacorti Passerini and via Zucchi.

The Four New Stumbling Stones: A Journey of Memory

At the end of the official ceremony, participants were invited to walk a journey of memory through the city, with the laying of four new Stumbling Stones, in memory of Monza citizens deported and killed in Nazi concentration camps.

At via G. Passerini 9, a stone was placed and unveiled in memory of Antonio Gambacorti Passerini, one of the victims of the Cibeno shooting range massacre, known for having founded, at the end of 42, together with other socialists, a group calling itself the “Anti-Fascist Action Front”, which printed and distributed a small clandestine newspaper entitled Peace and Freedom. In via Zucchi 27, the Stumbling Stone of Carlo Prina was unveiled. He was a veteran of the First World War and an early opponent of fascism, arrested in Monza in 1944 for his anti-fascist activity. Instead, in via Casati 15, the Stumbling Stone of Enrico Arosio, who, at the establishment of the Italian Social Republic, collaborated with the opponents of the regime and gave hospitality to the first wanted anti-fascists and draft dodgers. Finally, in via Amati 17 the unveiling of the Stumbling Stone of Ernesto Messa, a worker remembered for his tenacity in "not bowing to the prevailing fascism" at the cost of suffering hunger and humiliation, as recalled in the book "Monza nella Resistenza".

"The initiative – he observed Mayor Paolo Pilotto - constitutes a precious opportunity to nourish historical memory and actively involve young people in a path of awareness and civic commitment. Being present as Institutions and working hard to keep attention high on these events, apparently distant in time, contributes to preserving the collective memory of those who sacrificed their lives for freedom and human dignity and to develop the ability to share and trust with respect to the role that each of us plays within the community".