Giuseppe Merati
Giuseppe and Ettore Merati, father and son, were arrested and deported together, following different but equally tragic fates.
Giuseppe was born in Sesto San Giovanni on May 27, 1885; after working at Ercole Marelli as a worker, he received a small pension which he supplemented by working as a bicycle guard at the INAM in Sesto. His son, born in Cinisello on February 23, 1912, worked as a nurse in Breda (Section V) and lived with his parents and a sister. Ettore had no formal political record, but he socialized with his cousins, who were partisan leaders, and prior to his arrest, he had come to blows with colleagues who were Fascist supporters. According to his sister’s testimony, these events likely led to the denunciation and everything that followed.
Ettore was arrested at the factory, violently beaten, and taken to the Police Headquarters. In the evening, Fascists in civilian clothes arrived at the Merati home and arrested the father, Giuseppe, as well. Father and son were taken to San Vittore, held in separate cells until April 27, when they were sent to the Fossoli transit camp.
In early August, after a brief stay at the Bolzano camp, Ettore and Giuseppe were deported to the horrific Mauthausen concentration camp. Registered together with consecutive numbers 82435 and 82436, they were nonetheless separated: on August 13, Ettore was transferred to Gusen, where he was utilized by Messerschmitt to build jet fighter fuselages. Giuseppe did not survive the harsh conditions of the camp for long; he was taken to Hartheim Castle and killed with carbon monoxide on December 16, 1944—the fate of many prisoners declared unfit or no longer capable of the hard labor in the camp.
Ettore endured until April 22, 1945. He died three days before the Liberation at the age of 33 due to heart failure in Gusen, where a vast number of Italian deportees perished.
Giuseppe was born in Sesto San Giovanni on May 27, 1885; after working at Ercole Marelli as a worker, he received a small pension which he supplemented by working as a bicycle guard at the INAM in Sesto. His son, born in Cinisello on February 23, 1912, worked as a nurse in Breda (Section V) and lived with his parents and a sister. Ettore had no formal political record, but he socialized with his cousins, who were partisan leaders, and prior to his arrest, he had come to blows with colleagues who were Fascist supporters. According to his sister’s testimony, these events likely led to the denunciation and everything that followed.
Ettore was arrested at the factory, violently beaten, and taken to the Police Headquarters. In the evening, Fascists in civilian clothes arrived at the Merati home and arrested the father, Giuseppe, as well. Father and son were taken to San Vittore, held in separate cells until April 27, when they were sent to the Fossoli transit camp.
In early August, after a brief stay at the Bolzano camp, Ettore and Giuseppe were deported to the horrific Mauthausen concentration camp. Registered together with consecutive numbers 82435 and 82436, they were nonetheless separated: on August 13, Ettore was transferred to Gusen, where he was utilized by Messerschmitt to build jet fighter fuselages. Giuseppe did not survive the harsh conditions of the camp for long; he was taken to Hartheim Castle and killed with carbon monoxide on December 16, 1944—the fate of many prisoners declared unfit or no longer capable of the hard labor in the camp.
Ettore endured until April 22, 1945. He died three days before the Liberation at the age of 33 due to heart failure in Gusen, where a vast number of Italian deportees perished.