In the spring of 2018, Linda Ganzini attended the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of the Flossenbürg concentration camp in Germany, where her uncle Arturo was killed. Arturo Meneguzzi was an Italian soldier who was taken prisoner by the Nazis. He died in 1945 at age 24, just weeks before the Flossenbürg camp was liberated. Linda travelled to Germany to honor her uncle’s memory and to learn more about what he endured during the war. It was there that she met Pepick, a 93-year-old Jewish survivor who was with Arturo in his last days. The two worked in the camp kitchen together and became friends. Pepick told Linda stories of how her uncle would find food to feed the other prisoners and tried to keep up morale by singing to them in the barracks. Pepick began to sing the song, bringing Linda closer to her uncle than she could ever imagine.
Image: Linda embracing Pepick as he holds a photo of Arturo
Source: American Society for Yad Vashem Young Leadership Associates
