“Aunt Tina, how did you become a partisan? What pushed me to make such a fundamental decision for my life was an episode that determined not only me, who was just 16 and a half years old, but also other girls. It was September 26, 1944, and I was at school, I attended the Teachers' Institute in Bassano, when the fascists forced all the students to go to Viale Venezia, now Viale dei Martiri; the fascists and the Germans had carried out a large roundup on the Grappa, had captured 43 young people and were hanging them from the trees in Viale Venezia; among those young people was the brother of my classmate. They forced the population and us students to witness the hanging. It was a horrendous sight: a hanged man is scary, it's a tragic sight. Some children fainted, others cried, everyone was shocked. Those poor people hanged were innocent, hostages killed in retaliation because the partisans had blown up a bridge. When we returned to class we argued among ourselves, a furious argument broke out, we fought; there were those who said that the soldiers had done well and those who instead defended the reasons of the partisans, those who argued that it was right because that was the law and those who said that the law cannot go against rights. After this terrible experience, the following Sunday I resumed the discussion in the Catholic Action meeting and our assistant told us: "This is a pagan conception of the State and it goes against man, a State that goes against man is a State illegitimate!” This was what led me to become a partisan. "

Tina Anselmi

Pope Leo XIV – General Audience, November 5, 2025