Luciano Fano, the older child of Giorgina and Ermanno Fano, was born on February 16, 1932 in Pellegrino Parmense, a small village near Parma, in northern Italy. Luciano’s father worked as a pharmacist and provided a comfortable living for his family.
Jews had lived in Parma since the middle of the 14th century, but when Luciano was growing up, only 232 Jews made their homes there. The Jews of Italy were fully integrated into Italian society and culture and held positions in most professions, including the government and the military.
In November 1938, anti-Jewish racial laws were passed by the Italian government under Mussolini. Jews were forced out of most professions and barred from public education, causing financial disaster for many.
The Germans occupied Italy on September 8, 1943, and began arresting and deporting the Jews of Italy to concentration camps in “the East.” In October 1943, they raided Jewish communities in the larger cities. Many Jews fled from their homes, looking for refuge. Luciano and his family remained in Parma.
On December 8, 1943, Luciano and his family were arrested. At first, Italian police imprisoned them in local internment camps. After four months, they were sent to Fossoli, a large internment camp run by the Germans. Men and women were separated and lived in large, unsanitary, overcrowded barracks. Food was minimal.
On April 5, 1944, Luciano and his family were forced into cattle cars, together with 850 other Jews from the camp. Conditions barely sustained life. Five days later, the trains were unsealed upon their arrival at Auschwitz Death Camp. Luciano and his family were taken directly to the gas chambers where they were murdered.
Luciano was 11 years old.
Luciano was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.
A personal history from the Archives of the SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER 1991-790 [001]
