Enio Mancini

When Enio's father received the news of the arrival of the Nazis it was morning. Enio was six years old and still in bed. The father for fear of being captured ran away with the other men in the woods. Enio stayed at home with his mother and the whole family. Children, women and the elderly were convinced that they were in no danger. When the Nazis broke into the house they forced them to line up outside in front of a machine gun. They feared the worst and instead were joined by a soldier who ordered them to walk towards the village called Valdicastello. The people rounded up started walking in small groups, each group choosing a different destination. Enio's family passed their house and saw it burning. They decided to hide in the woods to wait for the Nazis to leave and try to save what was left and to free the remaining cow in the stable. They were found by another group of soldiers that forced them to line up along a path. On the way they were left with a single Nazi who took up the machine gun and ordered them to keep walking. Enio saw the soldier shoot in the air, heard the shots but no one fell. They had been pardoned. They decided to go back to get closer to the house. They hid again in the woods. They heard and saw the smoke without imagining what was happening across the village. Only in the afternoon did they come out of their hiding place, discovered the destroyed houses and the torn bodies. Like other survivors Enio and his family lived woods until the arrival of the allies.

In the years following the massacre Enio left the village, started working and got married. Since the birth of the Martyrs Association of Sant'Anna di Stazzema in 1970 Enio has always contributed to transmitting the memory of the massacre. For this role he was recognized as Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2020 together with Enrico Pieri.