大象传媒

I was born in 1937. My parents had left Italy because my father could not live under Mussolini. They were very happy and had run a successful restaurant for many years. They were very well liked in the area of North London where they lived.

In 1940 my father was interned on the Isle of Man. The local police worked hard with the Home Office to have him freed, but due to the harsh conditions and poor food he fell serously ill and was sent home. The police finally obtained his freedom, but when they came to tell my mother he was officially free, it was the day after he died. Mum remembered the policeman crying.

We lived in a very Jewish part of North London, my two best friends were Jewish. I remember the noise and sight of Moseley's Brownshirts marching up Stamford Hill and shouting about what they would do when Hitler won the war.

The nuns in the convent where I went to school let us have a shelter in their grounds as we had no garden at the restaurant. The shelter often flooded, and we had to paddle to get into our bunks. The Americans drove their tanks past the restaurant... we children used to shout "Got any gum Chum?" We were always lucky and often rewarded with a ride on the tank.

Because of the local bus depot the area was heavily bombed. The bombed out craters became our playgrounds, made beautiful in the late summer by the purple weeds. A magical world in a very dark and dangerous time.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Melita Dennett on behalf of Francesca Tolaini. Francesca fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

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