Also this year, on the occasion of the Mauthausen international ceremony which involves delegations of students from all European countries, a group of pupils from the state high schools of Monza – together with other young people from schools in Sesto San Giovanni, Cinisello Balsamo, Muggiò and Abbiategrasso – was able to visit some of the Nazi extermination camps in Germany, with a final stop in Mauthausen.
The Monza group was made up of 9 students, five girls and four boys, representing as many city schools: Frisi, Hensemberger, Porta, Nanni Valentini, Zucchi, Olivetti, Istituto Mose Bianchi, Mapelli, Enzo Ferrari.
On the study trip they were accompanied – representing the municipal administration, which supported the expenses of the trip – by the banner and the municipal councilor Lorenzo Spedo (LabMonza). “Memory is a founding value for every left-wing political force and, with democracy, represents the guarantee for the freedom, equality and peace of peoples – declared Spedo during his speech – When memory deteriorates, history takes on the guise of the strongest, who redesigns it for his own use and consumption. Anti-fascism is the bulwark that stands in contrast to barbarism”.
Having left Sesto San Giovanni on 3 May, the students reached Linz, to visit Hartheim Castle and then the Gusen Memorial, up to Mauthausen to participate in the international demonstration at the concentration camp. The initiative – promoted and coordinated by the ANED Section of Monza and Sesto San Giovanni in collaboration with the Ventimilaleghe Association – has been supported for a long time by the Monza municipal administration and is repeated annually to give students the opportunity to experience a direct experience, close to Liberation Day, of what remains as evidence of the deportations and the horrors of Nazi-fascism.
