San Daniele del Friuli – In San Daniele del Friuli (Udine) on the house where Arianna Szorenyi lived, who on June 16, 1944 was deported together with family members to Auschwitz. |
| Arianna Szörényi Giovanella |
Arianna Szörényi Giovanella was born in Rijeka on April 18, 1933 to Adolfo Szörényi, a Jew of Hungarian origin, and Vittoria Pick, from Trieste and Catholic, both bank employees who were forced to leave the city and work after the racial laws of 1938 and the bombings on the city of Rijeka. The family decided to move to San Daniele and on June 16, 1944, while the men were at work, Arianna (11 years) together with her mother and sisters, was arrested by a group of SS; all the members of the family were interrogated, forced to deliver every object and then deported first to the concentration camp of San Sabba, then to Trieste and finally to Auschwitz.
In the Polish extermination camp Arianna passed the first selection, she was led to the showers to bestripped and tattooed with the registration number 89.219, then accompanied with her mother and sisters in a barrack in the Birkenau camp. In October 1944, Arianna separated from her mother and sisters, was transferred to a female kinderblock, a hut used for the accommodation of boys and girls.
The girl was forced to take part in a long march in January 1945, saw the execution of many prisoners and herself risked death, but an SS soldier decided to spare her, loading her on an open wagon bound for the Ravensbruck camp. After the liberation of Auschwitz Arianna returned home and found that only one brother of her family survived. In 1952, now an adult, he moved to Milan where he worked as a seamstress and got married in 1960.
