We came to Trieste with the specific aim of recovering as much musical and bibliographical material as possible on several persecuted Jewish composers and musicians from Trieste : Vittorio Menassè (deported and killed in Auschwitz), Emilio Russi, Giulio Venezian, Davide Nacamulli and Lionello Morpurgo (emigrated to Argentina and Brazil respectively), Lionello Levi and Vito Levi (both expelled from the Conservatory in 1938), Davide Gentilli and Alberto Levi (both deported to Auschwitz).

We visited the Risiera di San Sabba , the only concentration and extermination camp opened by the Reich in Italy and a transit camp for numerous Italian, Croatian, and Slovenian Jews, later deported to concentration camps in Germany. The visit proved very useful for more accurately reconstructing the dynamics of the deportations between 1944 and 1945.

The trip to Trieste also offered the opportunity to meet Luciano Roiaz , son of the musician Giuseppe Roiaz , taken prisoner by German troops after the armistice of 8 September 1943 and interned in Stalag VIC/Z in Fullen; upon his repatriation, Roiaz fled with his family from Monte di Capodistria to Trieste.

Then we reached Bologna where we browsed the last antique book shops in search of some scores by deported Italian…