A memorial service was held in Rome’s Portico d’Ottavia on Tuesday in honour of the hundreds of Jews who were rounded up by Nazi soldiers and sent to their deaths 75 years ago.
A torchlight procession gathered in Trastevere on Tuesday evening before making its way across the Tiber to Portico d’Ottavia to commemorate the tragic event.
During World War II, Portico d’Ottavia was a Jewish ghetto.
On October 16, 1943, the Roman neighbourhood was raided by Nazi soldiers and its residents captured.
While some locals were able to hide or escape, most didn’t stand a chance.
A total of 1259 Jews (363 men, 689 women, and 207 children) were captured and forced into trucks at gunpoint.
On October 18, 1943, the prisoners were sent on a train from Tiburtina station to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Only 16 of them made it out of the camp alive.
Reda the article in Il Globo.