Stumbling Stones Via della Reginella 19

These memorial stones (Stolpersteine or stumbling blocks) commemorate:

* Settimio Spagnoletto, born 1895, arrested 27 March 1944, deported to Auschwitz, murdered 23 May 1944.
* Leone Pavoncello, born 1902, arrested 13 April 1944, deported to Auschwitz, murdered October 1944.

Settimio Spagnoletto was the son of Grazia Perugia and Giuseppe Spagnoletto and husband of Celestina Di Tivoli. After his arrest, he was held in the Rome prison. Then in May he was deported from Fossoli camp to Auschwitz, where he was killed on arrival. His brother, Samuele Spagnoletto, was arrested the year before, deported and killed in Auschwitz in December 1943.

Leone Pavoncello’s daughter Letizia, told his story. Leone, the son of a wealthy family, fell in love with and married the daughter of a laborer in Rome. Leone’s family gave them no help. They had 5 children and he did menial work as they lived in their one room on Via della Reginella. During the raid of 16 October 1943, Leone was out working and his wife and children managed to avoid capture. When Leone returned home, they all left to stay in an old warehouse in another part of the city. One day the following April, Leone and his 12-year-old daughter went for a walk, she well behind him. She saw 2 men take him away. "Hanno iniziato a tremare proprio quel giorno di sessantasette anni fa, quando ho visto portare via papà e non ho potuto fare niente. Niente." ["My hands started to shake that day 67 years ago when I saw Papa taken away and I could do nothing. Nothing."]

The small brass plaques, in the pavement in front of houses of which the (mostly Jewish) residents were murdered, mention the name, date of birth and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death.

In many other German cities the memorials also can be found. There are already many thousands of these plaques and their number is still counting. Almost all Stolpersteine are laid by the German artist himself, Gunter Demnig.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries & Anne Palmer
• Photos: Monica del Pin
• CDEC Digital Library
• Memorie d’inciampo