Giovanni Santambrogio
A citizen of Sesto by birth, born on June 26, 1915, he lived alone with his mother in a small two-room apartment.
He practiced basketball with passion, and his teammates remembered him as a fair and loyal player, composed and disciplined in his sporting commitment. His sister described him as a cheerful, bright person who always knew how to get by. He worked at Breda (Aeronautics Section) as a tinsmith and participated in the clandestine group of the factory's 128th GAP Brigade (Patriotic Action Groups).
He was arrested, like everyone from Breda Section V, during the night between March 13 and 14, following the usual pattern: police officers and Fascists would show up at night while everyone was sleeping to cause little stir, saying in a seemingly compliant way, "it's just for information." Instead, it was always an arrest, and his mother—like the wives and sisters of so many others—had to struggle to find where he was being held. The solidarity of these women, who shared information by word of mouth, helped his mother understand that he had been imprisoned in Bergamo. Unfortunately, she did not manage to speak to him one last time: the convoy, carrying 566 strikers and 7 women, had already departed three days after his arrest.
Giovanni was registered on March 20 at Mauthausen with the number 59125 as Schutzhaft, a prisoner held for security reasons. Four days later, he was already in the Gusen II subcamp, and a month later, he was utilized in the Kommando Georgenmühle of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch company for the Reich's war production. The horrific working conditions, insufficient food, and the cold wore down his body: he died on March 28, 1945, of heart failure at the age of 29.
He practiced basketball with passion, and his teammates remembered him as a fair and loyal player, composed and disciplined in his sporting commitment. His sister described him as a cheerful, bright person who always knew how to get by. He worked at Breda (Aeronautics Section) as a tinsmith and participated in the clandestine group of the factory's 128th GAP Brigade (Patriotic Action Groups).
He was arrested, like everyone from Breda Section V, during the night between March 13 and 14, following the usual pattern: police officers and Fascists would show up at night while everyone was sleeping to cause little stir, saying in a seemingly compliant way, "it's just for information." Instead, it was always an arrest, and his mother—like the wives and sisters of so many others—had to struggle to find where he was being held. The solidarity of these women, who shared information by word of mouth, helped his mother understand that he had been imprisoned in Bergamo. Unfortunately, she did not manage to speak to him one last time: the convoy, carrying 566 strikers and 7 women, had already departed three days after his arrest.
Giovanni was registered on March 20 at Mauthausen with the number 59125 as Schutzhaft, a prisoner held for security reasons. Four days later, he was already in the Gusen II subcamp, and a month later, he was utilized in the Kommando Georgenmühle of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch company for the Reich's war production. The horrific working conditions, insufficient food, and the cold wore down his body: he died on March 28, 1945, of heart failure at the age of 29.