Mario Sverco

Mario Sverco spends his childhood in Zagreb. After the death of his parents he returns to the country of his birth, Italy, where he and his brothers are looked after by an aunty. He begins to work at a shipyard in his hometown of Monfalcone. In 1943 Germany occupies northern Italy and supports the establishment of a second fascist republic under Benito Mussolini. Once he turns 18 Mario Sverco is faced with increasing pressure to join the fascist army or fight for the German forces. He joins a partisan movement instead. Mario Sverco becomes a member of the “Bataillon Mazzini” and takes part in the guerilla war against the German occupiers in the mountains of Gorizia province. He is captured by the German Army while on patrol with two comrades at the beginning of February 1945. Mario Sverco is handed over to the Gestapo, interrogated, and sent to the prison of the town of Gorizia. On February 28 1945 he arrives in the Dachau concentration camp. He endures the final two months in the catastrophically overfilled camp in quarantine. After the liberation of the prisoners by U.S. Army troops on April 29 1945, he returns home to Italy. Mario Sverco resumes working for the shipyard in Monfalcone and then later for a machine factory in Trieste until retirement.