Art School students make two short films on the Urbisaglia camp

The students of the Liceo Artistico Giulio Cantalamessa of Macerata, led by their teachers Jacopo Caggiano, Veronica Mastrogiacomi and Roserita Calisti, have recently made two short films on the Urbisaglia camp.

Before starting the work of screenwriting and shooting, the students met at school Giovanna Salvucci, President of the Casa della Memoria di Urbisaglia, who explained to them the history of the camp, and narrated the personal events of some internees.

What most impressed the students, and what they decided to report in the videos is, on the one hand, the loneliness and discomfort of the internees who tried to write reassuring words to their loved ones, and on the other hand the bureaucratic zeal of the offices responsible for the camp that, even in wartime, did not fail to produce an impressive amount of documents written for any occasion or request.

From here the topics chosen for the two short films. 

The first, entitled Lettera da un internato, shows us a young Rudolf Bratuz intent on writing and describing to his daughter Damjana the places and activities of his internment: the palace, the garden, the magnificent trees, bowls, music. But behind these comforting sentences that Bratuz writes to his daughter, the students have grasped the despair of a man uncertain of his own destiny and that of his family, a man who can no longer protect and care for them.

The second short film, entitled Carta, cenere e ricordi, highlights the bureaucratic process that internees had to activate for everyday needs: requests for small purchases, for medical examinations, to go to public toilets in Macerata, etc. At the end of the video, however, students send a strong message: even the last of the employees can make a difference, can save a life. In contrast to the Nazis who defended themselves in the Nuremberg Trials, declaring “We have only followed orders”, the short film’s employee shreds the list of internees destined for deportation. Unfortunately in reality this did not happen in Macerata, since in February 1944 the Jewish internees were transferred to the concentration camp of Fossoli (Modena) and subsequently deported to the German extermination camps.

Casa della Memoria di Urbisaglia thanks the teachers and students of the Artistic High School of Macerata for the commitment, seriousness and professionalism with which they developed and completed this project. We also thank the Fondazioni Giusgtiniani Bandini that allowed the students to shoot the films in the garden and palace at Abbadia di Fiastra.