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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE BOOK
Growing up, I vividly remember my father’s
nightmares. His uncontrollable convulsions and
piercing screams became a dreaded nighttime
ritual. We were told that sleep transported him
back to war-torn Yugoslavia, where he was
enslaved in a Nazi slave labor camp. At night he
succumbed to the memories he tried to fervently
suppress in waking hours. Beyond the little
information I knew of his role fighting with the
Italian resistance against the Nazis in WWII, I
was compelled to learn more about Salvatore
Lombardo the man, and how his experience fit
within the broader context of history.
Later in life I was introduced to a Jewish Holocaust survivor, Ivo
Herzer, who shared that his family had been rescued by the
Italians. He had made a promise to his father that if he survived
the war he would tell the world about the Italian Army's
courageous efforts to save his and countless other Jewish families
from death camps. When Ivo and I met, he was dying from
cancer and urgently wished to have his story told. My father
encouraged me to help Ivo share his experience. Something
clicked after that meeting and I gained clarity on my next act. In
pursuit of a link to my father’s past, I dedicated my career to
shining a spotlight on Holocaust survivors. Through grants that I
attained from the National Endowment for the Humanities, I
conducted over to 40 conferences/presentations nationally.
Unearthing stories relating to the Italians’ role in WWII became
very personal, each one bringing me closer to understanding my
father’s past. In these narratives were all the unspeakable horrors
that I had previously only endured through his dreams. With “A
Camp Without Walls,” I breathed new life into my father’s
experience by documenting his journey and chronicling the under
researched history of Italy’s wartime efforts.
As makeshift establishments, they did not require the permanence of barbed wire fences. Instead,
boundaries were set by packs of German Shepherds, making the perimeter as uncertain as the prisoners’
fates. On a daily basis, Nazi officers told my father and 254 fellow inmates that they were marked targets.
They would either die from the camp’s subhuman conditions or be blown up without warning.
My father was one of two survivors to escape when a bomb placed in his bunk did not detonate. Although
he physically prevailed, the dire psychological aftermath of his experience loomed large through tormented
nightmares – the camp without walls.
ORDER
A Camp Without Walls
ABOUT THE BOOK
“Dr.
Lombardo’s
clear
and
concise
account
about
Salvatore
Lombardo,
her
father’s
and
the
rest
of
her
family’s
struggle
to
survive
during
WWII,
is
a
remarkable
story
of
a
former
Italian
soldier.
Her
book
is
intimate
and
enormously
interesting,
essential
reading
for
scholars,
teachers
and
students
who
want
to
learn
about
international
resistance
and
the
German
treatment
of
POWs
and
ordinary
civilians
during
war
years.
Through
the
eyes
of
her
father
Maria
takes
us
on
a
suspenseful
journey
of
her
father’s
haunted
memories
of
his
youth,
life
in
Italy
during
prewar
years
and
his
time
in
Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia.
The
book
gives
us
not
only
emotional
interviews
with
her
father
and
family
but
also
a
story
of
her
life.
Dr.
Lombardo,
former
distinguished
leader
in
the
National
Italian
American
Foundation,
was
for
over
twenty
years
an
energetic
fundraiser
and
director
for
academically
worthy
programs,
colloquia
and
publication
of
resource
guides
for
students
and
teachers seeking scholarships and grants.
The
chapter
about
her
father’s
influence
on
her
life
shows
us
a
compassionate
love
for
family
and
her
country,
where
she
has
served
as
professor
and
education
director.
Maria’s
is
a
useful
life,
she
has
helped
thousands
of
students,
but
the
tormenting nightmares of her father’s pain and suffering during the war lingered in her memory.
I
asked
Maria:
‘What
made
you
write
this
narrative
about
your
father’s
life?’
And
she
told
me:
‘While
traveling
to
25
cities
working
with
Italian
and
Jewish
survivors
of
WWII,
listening
to
their
stories,
including
my
father’s
I
decided
to
write
this
book,
I
felt
it
was
my
obligation.’
For
me,
Maria’s
award
winning
book
is
a
source
of
inspiration.
She
draws
a
chapter
of
history
that
many
of
us
were
not
very
familiar
with,
a
sweeping
new
interpretation
of
Italian
relations
with
the
Third Reich.
The
book
includes
illustrations,
chronology
of
events
spanning
from
1918
up
to
1947,
the
history
of
Italian
immigration
in
America,
and
the
Italian
language
for
the
last
two
hundred
years.
It
presents
us
with
a
creative
blend
of
social
history
and
family
connections,
past
and
present.
“A
Camp
Without
Walls”
is
written
with
clarity,
vigor,
and
thoroughness.
It
is
an
example
of
a
daughter’s
love
for
her
father.
Maria
deserves
our
gratitude
for
writing
this
book,
which
is
a
great
contribution
to
the
literature
and
history
of
WWII.
There
is
a
great
need
to
bring
books
like
this
to
the
younger
generation. It is an excellent source of reading for the university campus as well as the general public.”
~ Professor Herman Taube, accredited correspondent of the White House Press Corps
BOOK REVIEW
$22.95 includes shipping in Continental USA.
A portion of book proceeds will go to Feeding America.
”This book will be read for generations to come as a
useful resource of WWII history.”
~ Barbara Walsh, Editor of Italy/Italy Magazine
It’s
difficult
to
imagine
how
a
war
started
in
another
country
that
happened
before
you
were
born
could
possibly
affect
your
life.
War
is
an
interloper,
changing
with
the
times,
the
environment,
the
people,
the
circumstances.
For
some,
war
is
a
necessity;
but
for
most
war
is
an
intrusion,
destroying
lives,
plans,
dreams,
hope
and
oftentimes,
faith.
When
Italy
entered
into
an
agreement
with
Germany
and
Japan
to
form
an
alliance,
the
lives
of
Italians
and
the
Italian
immigrants
who
had
settled
in
America
were
tossed into turmoil.
In
“A
Camp
Without
Walls,”
Dr.
Maria
Lombardo
tells
the
story
of
her
father,
Salvatore,
with
accounts
of
his
life
in
Italy
during
the
rise
of
fascism,
Italy’s
involvement
in
World
War
II,
his
imprisonment
in
a
Nazi
slave
labor
camp
and
–
after
being
rescued
from
the
camp
–
how
the
trauma
caused
by
his
imprisonment
presided
over
his and his family’s lives.
Through
combining
the
entries
in
a
diary
written
by
her
father,
with
his
and
her
mother’s
verbal
recollections,
and
Maria’s
own
life
experiences,
“A
Camp
Without
Walls”
provides
a
rare
look
–
from
an
Italian
perspective
–
into
the
atrocities
perpetrated
by
the
Nazis
and
the
aftereffects
suffered by the survivors of their terrifying regime.
Maria
remembers
her
“childhood
in
Martone
[region
of
Calabria]
was
wonderful.”
She
often
walked
to
the
piazza
with
her
father
and
listened
to
him
“discuss
politics
and
changes
that
could
be
made
…
to
improve
the
lives
of
the
townspeople.”
Her
father
stressed
the
importance
of
education,
and
told
her
“you
cannot
sit
back
and
let
things
happen;”
but
she
also
remembers
the
countless
nights
of
hearing
her
father’s
screams
–
“the
unknown demons [that] were visiting in a dream.”
BOOK REVIEW
Dr. Lombardo with Ginetta Sagan,
who was active in the Italian
resistance movement and later a
human rights activist and
honorary chair of Amnesty
International.
Dr. Lombardo with Father Don Arrigo
Beccari, who rescued over 100 Yugoslavian
Jewish orphans in Nonantola, Italy.
Her
family
later
moved
to
Turin
–
where
Salvatore
worked
–
and
when
she
was
10,
they
immigrated
to
America;
but
the
horrors
of
World
War
II
followed
them
in
Salvatore’s
dreams.
Before
Italy
was
fully
entrenched
in
war,
Salvatore
had
been
in
the
Italian
military
as
a
mechanic
in
the
air
corps.
During
Italy’s
active
involvement,
he
was
assigned
to
Libya, where Italy fought against British and American forces.
Assigned
to
Greece,
he
recalls
“We
had
no
explanation
as
to
what
we
were
doing
in
Greece.
…
No
long
range
plan
was
ever
presented
to
us.
We
did
not
feel
part
of
any
large
operation,
whereas
the
Nazis
were
unrelentingly
focused
on
their
cause.
What
was
even
more
disturbing
was
the
fact
that
we
were
supposedly
allied
with
the
Nazis,
when
we
could
not understand and identify with them, and they certainly had no interest in us.”
In
Greece,
Salvatore
found
the
landscape
and
culture
similar
to
Calabria
and
blended
in
with
the
townspeople.
After
Italy
surrendered
to
the
Allies
in
September
1943,
“hundreds
of
thousands
of
Italian
men
were
left
stranded
in
parts
of
the
Balkans
[now
known
as
Southeast
Europe]
with
no
indication
of
a
course
of
action
to
follow.”
Salvatore
escaped
the
Nazis and – with help from the townspeople – became a resistance fighter.
Several
months
later,
a
newspaper
article
brought
almost
300
former
Italian
soldiers,
“homesick
and
lonely
and
tired
of
living
in
terror
of
being
discovered,”
to
meet
the
Nazis,
thinking
“for
all
we
knew,
the
war
was
ending
and
the
Nazis
were
helping
us
to
get
home.”
Instead,
the
men
were
brutally
transported
to
a
prison
camp
with
boundaries
determined by the vicious barking dogs that surrounded them.
For
many
years,
Maria
questioned
her
father
about
the
war,
“there
were
still
missing
pieces
to
his
story,
there
were
always
inconsistencies,
as
if
the
missing
pieces
were
…
far
too
difficult
to
communicate.”
In
her
work
with
the
National
Italian
American
Foundation
–
at
the
time
“a
fledging
organization
that
had
just
been
started
up”
–
Maria
met
Jewish
survivors
of
the
Holocaust
who
had
been
helped
by
the
Italians,
and
she
began
learning
more
about
that
time
in
Italy’s
history.
After
her
father
was
hospitalized
for
major
surgery
and
going
through
rehabilitation,
his
doctor
–
recognizing
Salvatore’s
pain
because
his
parents
had
also
survived
a
Nazi
prison
camp
–
recommended
Salvatore’s
family
“talk
to
him
about
the
past
and
help
him
delve
into
his
memory
…”
The
pieces
of
a
past
life
finally
connected,
and
Maria
found
a story that had to be told.
“A
Camp
Without
Walls”
is
divided
“into
four
parts:
a
personal
story,
a
historical
summary,
a
bibliography,
and
a
resource
guide
…”
Within
are
family
retrospects;
the
politics
and
history
of
war
in
Italy
from
1919
to
1947;
the
assimilation
of
Italian
immigrants
in
America;
an
extensive
bibliography
of
books,
Internet
resources,
and
associations;
a
study
guide
about
the
Holocaust
in
Europe;
and
a
gallery
of
illustrations
–
photographs,
maps,
brochures,
paintings
and newspaper articles.
Maria
writes,
“This
is
a
story
intended
to
establish
roots
…
May
it
serve
as
a
model
for
all
other
families,
encouraging
them
to
delve
into
their
past
and
their
history,
so
that
they
may
record
their
own
story
for
their
children
and
grandchildren.”
~ Janice Therese Mancuso, Italian American Press, posted on
La Gazzetta Italiana
, May l, 2019
Pages from Salvatore Lombardo’s diary and his military papers.