Luigi Ferri (M / Italy, 1932), Holocaust survivor

Il libro intervista di Frediano Sessi su Luigi Ferri (2022)

Luigi Ferri (M / Italy, 1932), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Deportees> <Risiera di San Sabba> <Auschwitz> <Liberation of Auschwitz>

Biography

• Holocaust Survivor Testimonies, Poland #644 #5491

• [ wiki.en] -- wiki.it

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Luigi Ferri and Otto Wolken, after the Liberation of Auschwitz

Liberation of Auschwitz (YouTube Film)

Ferri's Deposition

Luigi Ferri with dott. Otto Wolken

Testimony (23 April 1945)

After the death of my father, who was president of the appeals court in Milan and who died in 1936, my mother and I moved to Rome. There she remarried, and currently her name is Lina d’Onnes. At the beginning of 1943, Rome was under heavy bombardment, so in order to ensure my safety my mother sent me to my paternal grandmother, who lived in Fiume, at Via Ciotta 1. Then, because Fiume was under bombardment, I moved with my grandma to Trieste, where we took up residence at Via della Conta 4. My grandma was Jewish and her husband was Aryan. Even though my father was a child from a mixed marriage, he always considered himself Aryan, and our household was Roman Catholic. The fact that my grandma was Jewish led to her being arrested in Trieste, in June 1944, at 9 p.m. A few policemen entered my grandma’s flat, and, having checked her papers, they told her she needed to come with them. This was just after the curfew. I was told that I could stay at home because I was Aryan, and that my grandma would be back soon. Because I had no friends or relatives in Trieste and I could not rejoin my mother in Rome, the city having already been taken by the English, I said I would not be separated from my grandma and that I would come, too. Three other people were taken by the police that evening. After we left our place, we were sent to a church located some 100 meters away, in front of which a van was parked.

The van was escorted by SS men, who forced us inside. We were taken to a prison located next to a rice factory and called Risnia because of that, four kilometers outside the city. We arrived at the prison at midnight. Immediately after our arrival, we were taken to a small room, and then I noticed there were 12 of us. Right from the outset, the SS men treated us violently, beating, kicking, and insulting us: ‘I have 12 dogs’. The interrogation was very short: each person was asked about their name, surname, date and place of birth, names of parents, and special attention was paid to religious affiliation. When they asked me about my faith, I answered that I was a Roman Catholic, Aryan, and only my grandmother was of Jewish origin. Among the people who were in the prison, I also noticed individuals dressed only in shirts. All the detainees were beaten and kicked, thrown to the ground, and had their hair pulled. We remained in this prison for around a week. The food was very poor and there was little of it, so we were hungry all the time. We got leftover bread. We slept indoors, on a bare floor and with no blankets. When we were taken to the prison cell, there were already 30 prisoners there: men, women, and children. These numbers changed all the time and on occasion there were 130 people in the room. Many children died.

Sick prisoners were left completely unattended, while healthy ones were taken for labor and always returned beaten and hurt. The people who had been in our cell longest told us that there were outgoing transports of prisoners weekly, but their destination was unknown. After a week, my name was read out and I was told to leave the cell. I was very upset that I was to go without my grandma, but I had to. Together with three or four others, I was taken in an open truck to a railway station in Trieste and put on a cargo train. Already before we departed the prison, I spotted the headlights of another car behind ours. The train which was to transport us was waiting at a railway siding, surrounded by a team of Italian carabineers, accompanied by high-ranking SS officers. Soon after I arrived at the station, another van drew up and then I noticed that my grandma and the other inmates from our cell were on it.

Then I started to scream, asking not to be separated from my grandma. Moments later, we were all thrust into one wagon, which was then locked up.

The train comprised a dozen or so wagons and I later found out that prisoners from another Trieste prison were on it. We were at the station between 6 and 9 a.m., and the train departed only then. During this whole time and for the entire next day we received nothing to eat, and it was only on the second day that we got a piece of bread each. The journey lasted eight days and nights and during that time we would only get a piece of bread every two days on average. There were men, women, and children in our wagon. We relieved ourselves inside. As a result of these conditions, two people went insane. They were Mario Lavi and Guido Roberti. Their insanity manifested itself in their talking gibberish, acting strangely, and trying to relieve themselves onto other prisoners’ heads. After eight days we arrived at some station, which we later found out was Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was in the evening. While passing through the Reich, a few wagons carrying so-called Italian and Yugoslavian guerrillas were uncoupled. The transport in which we arrived at Auschwitz numbered 40 people. When the transport arrived, the SS man who was escorting us and who had the list of the newcomers walked away, and another SS man came, who had no idea what transport this was, whether we were Jews or Aryans. Not asking anyone who we were, he decided we were Jews and told us to form groups of five. Then, escorted by two SS men, we set out on a long journey. Women fainted on the way and other prisoners from the transport had to carry them. We were told we were going to the bathhouse. In the bathhouse, we were split into two groups: men and women. I was assigned to the men, and when I started to cry and did not want to let go of my grandma, I was allowed to stay with her. After the shower, my grandma and other women came out with their heads already shaved, wearing scanty dresses which bore a red cross across the back. While the women were bathing, I was waiting next to the bathhouse and I did not have my head shaved. I did not come across a single man from the group which had arrived with us to Auschwitz, so I figure all of them had been gassed. After the shower, I was taken with the women to the women’s camp and put in an old bathhouse, which was not used at that time. When we got there, more women were already inside. They were completely naked and they told us their clothes had been taken to be deloused. We stayed in that bathhouse for one night.

In the morning, an SS man came to the bathhouse and said I could no longer remain in the women’s section, and took me with him. When I resisted and did not want to leave my grandma, the SS man slapped me across the face twice and threatened to shoot me. Taken forcibly, I was escorted to the men’s camp, to section BIIa, quarantine block 2. I have not seen my grandma since I was taken away from the bathhouse, and after around six months at Auschwitz, one female prisoner, who had been with us in the sauna, told me that my grandma had died, or rather, she had been gassed. I remained in quarantine blocks 2, 7, 10, 12, 13, and 16 until November 1944.

From the very beginning of my time in the men’s camp, block seniors Pinkus, a Polish Jew, Mietek Katarzyński, a Pole, and Franek, block senior of block 5, tormented me with promises that I was just about to rejoin my grandmother in the camp. To that end, many times they took me all the way to the camp’s gate or to the Schreibstube [administrative office] so I would sign a document confirming my transfer to the block where my grandmother was, etc. Then, having called out other block seniors, they poked fun at me. They made such jokes often. Desperate to rejoin my grandma, I called on Dr. Thilo, a camp doctor, to help me get a transfer to the block where my grandma was. Then, in my presence, Dr. Thilo asked the Rapportführer [report leader] Krupniak, ‘What’s this boy doing here?’, because all boys were sent to the gas chambers immediately after they arrived at Birkenau. Krupniak then said to Dr. Thilo that he did not know how I had ended up there and whether I was a Jew or of mixed race, to which Dr. Thilo replied, ‘Don’t let me see him here again tomorrow’. After that conversation, I returned to block 2 and cried profusely, fearing I would be killed.

Older Stubendiensts [duty prisoners] and Dr. Wolken, who back then was the infirmary clerk at the camp, then expressed concern about myself, and the latter said he would try to conceal me, or alternatively, have me transferred to another block. In truth, it was only Dr. Wolken who took care of me and who had been helping me all the time since the very first day. Let me explain that Dr. Wolken was the infirmary clerk and deputy camp doctor. He told me not to leave the block at all, and if an SS man came, or if there was any kind of an inspection, I was supposed to hide at the top of a bunk, in the corner, and cover myself tightly. Dr. Wolken often checked on me during the day and each evening. During our conversations, he was telling me what to do so as not to give myself away. Both block seniors and duty prisoners in block 2 knew about me, but they did not really care. After a week in block 2, I was moved to block 7, where I remained for two weeks, and then I was transferred to block 10, where I remained for three weeks. The block senior in block 10 was one Warchomy, a Pole. He was a malevolent man and ordered me to work, clean the block and the kitchen, and he often beat me. This man was unfair to prisoners while dividing bread and other rations among them. Dr. Wolken spoke to him and he left me alone. From block 10, I was transferred to block 13.

While I was still in block 7, I saw as prisoners had their numbers tattooed. They were processed and then sent for tattooing by Unterkapo Katzengold, a French Jew. That is when I met him and he took a liking to me. When I was in block 13, Unterkapo Katzengold, at Dr. Wolken’s request, “smuggled” me into a transport that had just arrived from Rhodes. As a “newcomer” I was recorded and tattooed, receiving the number B-7525. This made it easier for me to move around the camp, and in the first place it enabled me to access the infirmary where my caretaker, Dr. Wolken, worked. He lived in block 16.

From block 13, I was then moved to block 12. Aryan children from Warsaw later came to block 13. There were four transports of them, in August and September 1944. When at the end of September 1944 I was in danger of being selected, Dr. Wolken moved me to block 13, because no selections for gassing were being carried out in that block at that time, while in other blocks such selections did take place, which posed a threat to me because I had a Jewish number. Let me explain that essentially I did not sleep or stay at blocks 12 and 13 and was only recorded as a prisoner assigned to these blocks. In practice, I was with Dr. Wolken in the infirmary. Because Dr. Wolken feared that I might be spotted there, and because scarlet fever had broken out among the children at block 13 and that block was quarantined, he placed a request with Dr. Thilo that I be appointed infirmary errand boy and stay with Dr. Wolken in block 16. Dr. Thilo had already forgotten about me and the personal request I had made with him on my second day at the camp, and because he happened to be in good spirits on that occasion, he granted Dr. Wolken’s request. I served as the infirmary errand boy until November 1944. Over that period, I lived in Dr. Wolken’s room, and he treated me like a son. I was responsible for making all of the infirmary’s outgoing deliveries.

On 1 November, section BIIa was liquidated, and the patients and personnel were transferred to section BIIf. Immediately after I came to this section, Lagerältester [camp senior] Dr. Zenkteler, a Pole, noticed me and told Dr. Wolken that I could not remain with the doctors and orderlies and that I needed to be moved to the labor camp. Dr. Wolken replied that in that case he would go with me, but asked Zenkteler to keep me in section BIIf. Then, Zenkteler said that whether I could stay in this section would be up to Dr. Thilo. But on that day, he was not present at section BIIf, so Dr. Wolken could not speak to him, and on the next day, an order came which banned sending people to be gassed. It was on 3 November. On that day, a transport of 996 Slovakian Jews from Seret came. They were men, women, and children. Since it was necessary to provide them with medical assistance, two doctors – one of them being Dr. Wolken – a block senior, and myself were assigned to that end to section BIIa, where these Jews were placed. We remained in section BIIa for around a week, in block 16. In the meantime, Dr. Thilo was transferred to the Groß-Rosen camp. That made it more difficult for Dr. Wolken to have me transferred back the infirmary at section BIIf. The clerk at the main Schreibstube assured Dr. Wolken that I could stay very well in block 13, but I should avoid Dr. Zenkteler.

I followed this suggestion and Dr. Wolken sent me to his friend in the medical storeroom, where I worked for 14 days.

Then, Dr. Zenkteler was also sent to another camp in Germany, as a prisoner on a transport. He was a very bad man.

After he left, I could move around the camp freely and I had nothing to worry about.

In block 13 I worked as an errand boy. This block was divided into three sections. In one of them, the Bekleidungskammer [clothing storeroom] was located, where I worked, and in the others, there was a room for prisoner orderlies and a dietary kitchen. The Bekleidungskammer Kapo was Paul Bracht, a German, prisoner number 3287. He was a malevolent man and Jews were whom he hated most. He recognized four classes of prisoners: Jews, whom he treated worst, Poles, Russians, and Germans. Sorting clothes and underwear, he issued the worst items to Jews and the best ones to Germans. My job was to sort out the underwear, and whenever I wanted to give a good shirt to a Jew, Bracht took it away from me and ordered me to issue a torn one. The same applied to garments and shoes. This Kapo raided different blocks without being ordered to, and if he found some extra underwear, trousers, or a jacket, he verbally abused the owner and beat him. He never carried out inspections with the Germans, even though they were in possession of cases full of underwear. The block seniors of the blocks he raided did not react to this at all because they were afraid of him. I remember that one day Bracht inspected the block where Prof. Dr. Grossman lived. He found some underwear that he confiscated, and called him with the meanest of names, such as ‘trash, pig’. He was a common thug and a murderer who had been in different camps in Germany for 15 years. Having worked under Bracht for a month, I asked Dr. Wolken for another assignment, because I was afraid of Bracht.

Then, I was transferred to work in block 16, where the bathroom was located. I remained in that block until the end of 1944, working as an errand boy. The block senior of this block was Hans Denstadt, a German communist, who was later captured by the Soviet troops. This block senior tortured sick people sent to the bathroom. Instead of washing them, he beat them with a hard broom to the point where the patients often died. Germans he treated much better: he did not beat them and treated them decently. He particularly mistreated Jews. Regular bathroom service continued until 17 January 1945. On the night of that day, an air-raid alert was put out. Let me explain that I only worked in block 16 during the day and spent nights in block 12 with Dr. Wolken, who kept hiding me there illegally, because I was recorded as a prisoner at block 15, where twins were kept at that time.

On the night of 17 January 1945, Karl Icemann, the senior block leader of blocks 2, 5, and 7, came to block 12 and told us to get dressed quickly and leave the block. Then, some of the prisoners left the block and went to block 1. Dr. Wolken and I stopped near block 1, and when we heard that they were counting people, that they were calling out a few more, apparently to reach a quota, we did not come up and walked off instead. We only managed this because the night was completely dark and there were no lights at the camp due to the air-raid alert. We later learned that that group of around 40 people was marched somewhere, but I do not know where. Next day, all healthy individuals able to walk 50 kilometers were ordered to form rows and informed that they would be sent out of the camp. Chaos already reigned in the camp. That evening, camp doctors divided prisoners into three groups: those who could walk for 50 kilometers, those who could only walk to the train station some three kilometers outside the camp, and those severely sick, who were unable to leave the camp at all. As regards the sick, there were rumors circulating around the camp that they would be gassed on the spot, or alternatively killed off in another way, so everybody did what they could to be included among the two other groups. As a medical doctor, Dr. Wolken did not want to leave the sick unattended, so he decided to stay in the camp with a few other doctors, and he also kept me by his side. That day, around 8 a.m., the group able to walk 50 kilometers departed the camp. Some 400 from our section left, and it was later said that around 25,000 prisoners from across the entire camp had departed. These prisoners, escorted by SS men, were sent in the direction of Auschwitz-Buna, and, as those who managed to flee this group later said, they were executed in a forest near Gliwice.

On 19 January 1945 in the morning, SS men ordered everybody able to work to remove corpses and set fire to the chests in the clothing storerooms, which were located in the so- called EffektenkammerKanada. This was a particularly difficult day for prisoners, because if somebody wanted to take an item from the burning storerooms, the SS men would beat him and kicked him inhumanely, as they did for other petty reasons. Because the camp had been plunged into chaos for about a week, nobody had taken care of the corpses. There were piles of them everywhere, among them the bodies of small children, even very small, covered in blood. That day, the prisoners had to move these corpses to crematory V, where they were incinerated. In the meantime, the other two crematories had been already been blown up. The Canada was set on fire on the night of 23 January. The fire burned the whole night, and then for another five days and nights. I, Dr. Wolken, and other prisoners tried to salvage some clothes from the burning storerooms and use them to dress the patients, who did not have any.

On 20 January, since there were no SS men in the camp any longer, prisoners stormed the food storerooms to get food for themselves. I also took a few loaves of bread. Suddenly, SS men appeared and started to shoot at the prisoners who were taking food. One of the SS men put a revolver to my chest and threatened to kill me. Having spent an hour at the camp, they departed on bicycles and then we were free to take whatever was left in the food storerooms.

These SS men had left some ammunition and a few rifles in the camp. Russian prisoners took these weapons and started to fire shots in the air. As a result, the next day, that is, on 21 January, a few dozen soldiers with machine guns came to the camp and searched all the blocks looking for weapons. One prisoner revealed that the shots had been fired by a Russian prisoner named Andrejew, but they did not find him because he had escaped or hidden somewhere. Having failed to find the weapons or the prisoners who had fired them, the Wehrmacht left the camp. They did not particularly abuse the prisoners, only beat them with hands. These same soldiers came again the next morning at 6 a.m. This time, they found Andrejew sleeping in block 13. They cuffed him and told him to take them to the remaining prisoners – Russians, POWs only. Aside from Andrejew, there were five such prisoners.

All of them were taken to the yard between blocks 14 and 15 and executed. One of the Russians survived and when the Germans left, Dr. Wolken dressed his wounds, thus saving his life. I suspect he remained at Auschwitz until the arrival of the Soviet troops.

Crematory V, the last one, was blown up on 25 January 1945 at 1 a.m. The day after the Russians were executed, a few soldiers again came to the camp and ordered that the bodies of the dead be taken to the vicinity of crematory V. They failed to notice that there was one body missing. The corpses were piled up and the stack was set on fire by the soldiers themselves. The remains of these Russian soldiers, which had not burned completely, are still at that location. On 25 January 1945, Gestapo men (SD) arrived and ordered all the Jews to stand on the road. Dr. Wolken told the sick to remain in their beds and then he hid himself. I was in the women’s camp and when I returned, I hid under a bed.

Between 100 and 150 Jews stepped up and were taken beyond the camp’s gate, where more SS men were waiting, and then they were asked if they wanted to return to the camp. There were eight or ten who expressed their willingness to go back, and these were executed on the spot. The others were driven in the direction of Auschwitz I. Many people from this transport were killed on the way. They were mostly women. For reasons unknown to us, at one point, the guards moved away from the column and those still alive could escape. I learned about this from one of the escapees. When the transport was being assembled at Birkenau, SS man and Kapo Otto Schulz, a German, treated the patients brutally and beat them. When the Soviet troops arrived, they executed this Schulz.

On 27 January 1945 in the evening, the first Russian soldiers entered Birkenau. This was the first patrol. Larger units only came the next day. The Soviet troops allowed everybody to go home. We remained at Birkenau for another month since the camp was completely liquidated, and then we were moved to Auschwitz I, from where we were taken to Kraków by the commission before which I am now testifying.

The witness testified in German, which the commission understands, so he was heard without the participation of an interpreter. After the report was read out and translated into German, the witness stated as follows: Das vorstenhende Protokoll wurde mir vollinhaltlich in die deutsche Sprache übersetzt. Ich anerkenne die Aufnahe als richtig, meine Aussagen Wort und sinngemaess wiedergebend und als Beweis dafuer unter zeichne ich das Protokoll eignehaendig [The aforesaid testimony was translated into German in full. I acknowledge the details as correct and my statements as represented in an exact and accurate way, and as evidence of this, I append my signature to this testimony].

The report was read out. At this the hearing and testimony were concluded on 23 April 1945.

Bruno Maida's article

Una foto ritrae Luigi Ferri mentre mostra il suo numero di matricola B7525 alla Commissione per i crimini nazisti. Cracovia, 27 aprile 1945 (Archivio Fondazione CDEC, Fondo Vicissitudini dei singoli, Fascicolo “Luigi Ferri”, inv. 198-303)

La fotografia viene scattata il il 21 aprile 1945. il dodicenne Luigi Ferri, sopravvissuto per sei mesi all’inferno di Auschwitz, si trova a Cracovia di fronte alla Commissione per l’Indagine sui crimini tedesco-hitleriani compiuti nel Lager. La sua deposizione racconta, al contrario, una vicenda straordinaria di sopravvivenza, nella quale hanno concorso la fortuna, l’incontro con una persona che ha rischiato la propria vita per proteggere un bambino, la condizione di “ebreo a metà”. Sono passati quasi tre mesi dalla liberazione di Auschwitz e Luigi è, almeno apparentemente, in buone condizioni. Lo testimoniano questa e altre fotografie scattate in quella occasione, quando – di fronte al giudice istruttore Jan Sełm, al procuratore Wincenty Jarosiński, e in presenza del membro della stessa Commissione, il deputato del Consiglio Nazionale di Stato, Helena Boguszewska-Kornacka – racconta la sua vicenda.

In una fotografia Luigi mostra il numero tatuato, B 7525, appoggiando l’avambraccio su una grande carta di Auschwitz. In un’altra è seduto su una poltrona e sta parlando, probabilmente mentre svolge la sua deposizione davanti alla commissione. In una terza il suo viso si apre in un grande sorriso, mentre tiene il braccio intorno alla spalla di un uomo seduto. Non è un uomo qualunque, ma il dottor Otto Wolken, un medico austriaco ebreo quarantenne che viene inviato nel carcere del campo di quarantena e lì cerca di aiutare gli internati, malgrado le condizioni dell’infermeria, in una totale assenza di medicine e strumenti.

In un’altra fotografia, scattata alla liberazione del campo, Wolken appare nella sua compostezza e serietà, al centro di una massa di deportati, quasi simbolica immagine di un impegno che il medico austriaco ha assunto e che è proseguito nel dopoguerra essendo il primo internato a testimoniare al processo di Francoforte contro i crimini compiuti ad Auschwitz. È Wolken che si è preso cura di Luigi, lo ha nascosto e lo ha protetto. Nei suoi appunti le più piccole vittime dello sterminio compaiono spesso, come quel bambino di dieci anni che all’osservazione di una SS: «Beh, ragazzino, la sai davvero lunga per la tua età», rispose «So di saperla lunga, e so anche che non avrò il tempo per imparare altro».

Ora la vicenda di Luigi è stata ricostruita in modo veramente esemplare da Gabriele Boccaccini, Luigi Ferri: il bambino scomparso di Auschwitz, nel numero degli “Annali di Italianistica”, n. 36 (2018) dedicato a The New Italy and the Jews: from Massimo d’Azeglio to Primo Levi. Vale la pena leggerlo, è una bella dimostrazione di come si fa ricerca.

Frediano Sessi (24 gennaio 2021)

NEL LAGER PER RIMANERE CON LA NONNA

Furono in molti tra i liberatori a stupirsi del fatto che un bambino, con un sorriso ammaliante che mostrava insieme gioia e sofferenza, fosse tra i primi testimoni a denunciare i crimini commessi ad Auschwitz. Luigi Ferri il 21 aprile 1945, davanti alla Commissione polacca riunita a Cracovia per processare i carcerieri del più grande sistema concentrazionario dell’epoca nazista, non aveva ancora compiuto tredici anni. Era arrivato alla Neuerampe, la rampa interna per ebrei di Birkenau, il 1° luglio 1944, dalla Risiera di San Sabba di Trieste, insieme alla nonna Rosa Gizelt, che a fine mese avrebbe compiuto 74 anni. Fino al giorno della liberazione visse a Birkenau. Il paesaggio del campo era terribile: mucchi di cadaveri davanti alle baracche e nelle infermerie morti viventi in attesa dell’ultimo respiro.

Ma come riuscì a salvarsi Luigino? Ad Auschwitz vennero assassinati 231.640 bambini e adolescenti. Chi lo aiutò a sopravvivere? E ancora, perché la sua testimonianza non appare oggi nei libri di storia e memoria pubblicati nel dopoguerra? Luigi Ferri, come ricorda lo studioso italo-americano di cultura ebraica, Gabriele Boccaccini, «nelle pubblicazioni ufficiali del Museo di Auschwitz è l’italiano più citato dopo Primo Levi»; e lo storico Bruno Maida lo descrive come il «bambino scomparso di Auschwitz». Figlio di Giulio Frisch, ebreo originario di Leopoli, e di Lina Koppe, di fede cattolica, Luigi nasce a Milano il 9 novembre 1932 e subito, per decisione dei genitori, assume il cognome «Ferri» e viene battezzato, diventando così un cattolico ariano. Quando il padre nel 1937 muore, Luigi viene affidato alle cure di nonna Rosa che vive a Fiume, dove frequenta le scuole pubbliche di lingua tedesca. Alcuni anni dopo, nel 1941, quando la madre si risposa e si stabilisce a Roma, Luigi la raggiunge.

La guerra si avvicina e, nel luglio 1943, Roma subisce i primi bombardamenti. Per la sicurezza di Luigi, si decide il suo trasferimento dalla nonna, a Fiume. Quando i bombardamenti raggiungono quella città, la nonna si trasferisce con il bambino a Trieste. Ormai, però, per gli ebrei non c’è più scampo. Nei primi giorni di giugno la polizia italiana fa irruzione nell’abitazione di Rosa Gizelt. «Ci portarono in prigione a mezzanotte», racconta Luigi Ferri. Poi aggiunge che fin dai primi momenti vennero trattati «in modo molto brutale. (…) Ci hanno colpito e maltrattato, ci hanno insultato». A Luigi, che si dichiara ariano, viene detto che può rimanere a casa e che la nonna avrebbe fatto ritorno presto. Ma separarsi dalla nonna per lui era impensabile. Imprigionati alla Risiera di San Sabba, restarono nel campo di transito una settimana, dormendo sul pavimento senza materasso e mangiando solo pezzi di pane «che conteneva anche segatura». Il 24 giugno 1944, nonna e nipote, insieme ad altri ebrei, vennero caricati su un treno merci e, dopo un viaggio di otto giorni, affamati, assetati e spaventati, verso sera arrivarono ad Auschwitz.

Come racconta lui stesso, nella sua intervista a Carla Wurdak per il periodico tedesco «Frei Welt», del settembre 1967, «avrei dovuto andare nel gruppo maschile, ma quando ho iniziato a piangere perché non volevo separarmi dalla nonna, mi è stato permesso di stare con lei (…), così siamo stati portati al settore femminile del campo». Nel caos di quei giorni, gran parte degli ebrei che arrivavano entravano nel lager in attesa di finire nelle camere a gas. Solo il giorno seguente, le procedure di selezione vennero ripristinate e una SS prese con sé Luigi e lo portò a forza nel campo di quarantena degli uomini che si trovava di fronte al settore femminile, dove era rinchiusa Rosa Gizelt.

«Ho pianto e urlato — racconta Luigi Ferri — perché non volevo allontanarmi da mia nonna. Così l’uomo delle SS mi ha picchiato senza pietà e ha minacciato di spararmi sul posto se non mi calmavo immediatamente». Preso in giro anche dai kapò del settore di quarantena, Luigi cercò aiuto da un medico SS, Heinz Thilo. Senza il numero di matricola inciso sul suo braccio, all’ufficiale apparve chiaro che Luigino non aveva passato la selezione, e fu subito presa la decisione di spedirlo già l’indomani alla camera a gas. Per sua fortuna, il dottor Otto Wolken, ebreo austriaco, fin dal 1938 prigioniero dei lager nazisti, che aveva assistito alla scena, decise di nasconderlo e proteggerlo fino a che, il 18 agosto, venne fatto passare per un componente di un trasporto di ebrei provenienti da Rodi. Fu immatricolato con il numero B-7525 e, poiché conosceva bene il tedesco, venne incaricato di fare il portaordini dell’infermeria, di cui Otto era medico prigioniero.

Il bambino seguirà Wolken ovunque, anche quando l’infermeria della quarantena di Birkenau verrà chiusa e sarà trasferita nell’ospedale maschile (settore BIIf). «Da allora in poi — dirà Otto Wolken — sono stato in grado di tenere Luigi con me all’ospedale. Ho avuto un figlio, un figlio del lager». Il 27 gennaio 1945, racconta Wolken, «è stato scioccante vedere come Luigi non riuscisse a credere di essere libero e vivo. Era ancora terrorizzato. Non si è mai allontanato da me giorno e notte. Rimanemmo nel campo per un mese fino a quando Birkenau non fu completamente liquidato (…). Poi la commissione polacca per i crimini dei nazisti ci portò a Cracovia. Dovevamo dormire nell’hotel Francuski. La prima notte dopo anni in un letto con lenzuola bianche, dopo un piacevole bagno. Quando eravamo seduti sul letto, Luigi mi abbracciò all’improvviso, pianse e sorrise. L’ho visto per la prima volta senza paura: quante persone avevano rischiato la vita a causa sua? Ne era valsa la pena!». Da allora Luigi Ferri, di cui anche Bruno Piazza ricorda la presenza nel corso degli ultimi giorni a Birkenau, sceglie il silenzio. Oltre alla testimonianza al tribunale di Cracovia, ci restano il racconto su «Frei Welt» e il suo desiderio, pur essendo ancora vivo, di rimanere nell’ombra.

In “la Lettura” del 24 gennaio 2021