“A slap in the face to all the people of Casa Cervi, who continue to be targeted, 80 years ago set on fire by fascists, today the target of this attack.” Albertina Soliani, president of the Institute dedicated to the father of the seven anti-fascist brothers shot by the republicans in Reggio Emilia on 28 December 1943, describes the theft suffered on the evening of 25 April in this way.
It had been a great day of celebrations of the Liberation – with music, readings and speeches by the CGIL secretary Maurizio Landini, Romano Prodi, the president of the region Stefano Bonaccini and other local political exponents – which had seen the participation of 10/12 thousand people, despite the adverse weather forecast. Around 11pm, however, a group of criminals went into action and robbed all the proceeds by attacking two workers at the facility. Fortunately they were not hurt, but the blow ruined “the work of many volunteers, collaborators and the enthusiasm of a participating and generous public”, we read in a statement released yesterday.
«There were four criminals and they were well organised. They had sting spray. They neutralized one of our colleagues and took everything away. We are stunned by what happened but also by the great solidarity received in the first hours following the event”, says Mirco Zanoni, cultural coordinator of the Alcide Cervi Institute. The loot amounts to around 90 thousand euros, slightly higher than initially estimated. The investigations are ongoing.
The lack of that money puts at risk some of the activities organized in the house-museum, primarily the April 25th edition already scheduled for next year. To avoid this, a fundraiser was opened yesterday. You can contribute on the site: www.Istitutocervi.it.
«I support the support campaign launched by Casa Cervi following the shameful robbery that occurred on April 25th. Because memory and remembrance must also be supported materially. The Resistance is a value of all the Italian people and the Alcide Cervi Institute is particularly so for us Emilia-Romagna people”, declared governor Bonaccini. Some cooperatives in the region were also among the first participants in the solidarity fundraiser.
The president of the National Association of Partisans of Italy (Anpi) Gianfranco Pagliarulo expressed “maximum and passionate solidarity”, speaking of “a very serious fact for which we hope for the immediate identification of the perpetrators and their bringing to justice”. The one between Parma and Reggio Emilia, in Praticello di Gattatico to be precise, is “a fundamental place for anti-fascist memory and culture: no one must dare to violate it and attack it criminally”, added Pagliarulo.
Even several Dem representatives – such as Senator Enza Rando, head of Legality of the party’s national secretariat, and MP Andrea De Maria – expressed solidarity with the Institute and President Soliani.
