When it comes to LGBT people, we can say that it has attracted both a lot of attention and a lot of controversy. However, the presence of LGBT people is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, there were some LGBT people in Europe before World War II. Influenced by the social atmosphere at that time, most people did not dare to disclose their identities. In the context of World War II, the fate of these people was even more difficult. Today, I would like to share with you the legendary story of Lucy Salani, an LGBT person in Italy during World War II. Lucy Salani was born on August 12, 1924 in Fossano, Piedmont, Italy. Opposed to the rise to power of the Italian fascist organization headed by Mussolini, in the 30s their family moved back to their hometown of Bologna. Lucy Salani was born with distinctive characteristics, apparently a little boy, but she grew up thinking of herself as a girl. She loves to play with dolls and enjoys jobs that are considered women's only, such as cooking and cleaning. Sarani's mother was so worried about this that she tried to help her change, buying her a swinging wooden horse that both boys loved, only to find that one night, Lucy smashed the wooden horse.
Over time, Sarani began to notice that many boys were attracted to her charms. So, she bravely and publicly declared that she had come out, even though she still considered herself a girl. However, this act was not understood by her family. At that time, in the gradually conservative Italian society, in addition to constantly enduring outside fingers, Sarani was often harassed and threatened by the fascist paramilitary organization Blackshirts. Members of this group hate people who come out so much that if they see same-sex couples showing off their love on the street, they will immediately step forward to fight and apply hot tar to each other's faces. Lucy Salani's story is not only a personal experience, but also a microcosm of the LGBT community in Italy during World War II. In that era of pressure and discrimination, she bravely stood up for her true identity and made a huge contribution to the fight for equal rights for LGBT people. Her story teaches us that no matter what hardship we face, we should bravely pursue our own happiness and dignity. So, how should we view the status and rights of LGBT people in society? What equality and respect do you think they deserve? Please leave your comments.
Sarani was a minor when she announced she came out, but her family didn't react much. However, over time, Salani's mother and brothers still did not fully accept her special cognition. At this time, Italy was involved in the war, and by the time the war lasted until 1943, Italy's human resources had dried up and Salani was drafted into the army. Sarani didn't want to serve, but when she told the recruiting office that she was coming out, it wasn't taken seriously. Salani was eventually assigned to an Italian artillery unit based in Cormons. However, less than a month after enlistment, Italy declared its secession from the Axis and arrested Mussolini and his associates. The Germans made two choices, but Salani and many of the Italian soldiers chose the other path: take off their uniforms and go home. However, when Salani returned home, he found that his family had been evacuated to Milan. So she walked all the way to Milan, but found that the living environment there was not suitable for her "big girl". Salani's mother suggested that she stay at her uncle's house, but Sarani feared that she would be bullied, so she hid in the countryside with an Italian deserter. This experience had a profound impact on Salani's upbringing and gender identity.
Salani's path to gender identity has not been easy, and her family has not responded positively to it. The outbreak of war and the turmoil in Italy made her life full of bumps. Salani's story reminds us that respecting and embracing everyone's gender identity, especially those exposed to war and turmoil, is key to building an equal and harmonious society. We should think about how to enable everyone to freely express their gender identity, how to create a social environment without discrimination, so that everyone can be respected and protected. The fate of Salani is a former soldier in the Italian National Army, but she deserted on the battlefield because of timidity. After being captured by the German army, she chose to join the Wehrmacht. While on an air defense mission, in order to escape the shackles of the troops, she pretended to be sick and jumped into a small river, which led to bronchitis. During treatment, she took the opportunity to escape again and began to earn a living from prostitution. However, her crimes were eventually discovered by the German gendarmerie, and Salani was imprisoned and eventually sentenced to death. But unexpectedly, she pleaded with the commander-in-chief of the German army and was saved from death.
Salani's experience has taught us that war is brutal, it can make people unrecognizable and make people find a way out in hopeless desperate situations. However, courage and freedom are not obtained by evasion and despicable means. In the context of war, everyone should bravely face their responsibilities and situations in order to truly realize their own value and dignity. At the same time, Salani's story also reflects the general psychological state and situation of the soldiers of the Italian National Army at that time. Italy changed its position several times in World War II and suffered repeated military defeats, resulting in low morale and vacillation among its soldiers. In this case, the soldiers' performance may deserve more of our understanding and sympathy. Finally, we can consider the question: where is the border between courage and freedom in war? Salani, a restless young man among Italian soldiers during World War II, began his escape from concentration camps after being imprisoned for pleasure and disobedience. He befriended a fellow inmate, and together they planned to escape the camp, eventually escaping to the German-Austrian border, but were sent to Berlin because they took the wrong train.
In order to return to Italy, they had to flee again, but in the cabins in the Innsbruck forest they suffered from a lack of food and heating. Therefore, they returned to the train station, intending to pick up the car and flee to Italy. But this time they were captured by German soldiers, and Salani's cellmates fled despite warnings from the Germans and were eventually shot. Salani was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp and became a member of the political prisoner. His hair was completely shaved, and his body was branded with numbered numbers representing the identity of the prisoner. His daily task was to label dead prisoners, transport the bodies to the crematorium, and bury the burning ashes in a mass grave outside the camp. Salani was also forced to wear a red triangle representing political prisoners. His experience made him realize that life in a concentration camp was more brutal than Dante's description of Hell. He and other prisoners were transported to Munich to work on the reconstruction of the city's railways in order to complete the task faster. However, the conditions in the camps became even worse, with some people strangling their fellow prisoners in order to get more food, and the remains of others hung on electric fences for long periods of time. Salani's experience reveals the cruelty of concentration camp life and extreme manifestations of human misdeeds.
How can we prevent this from happening again? Sarani: Sarani, a woman who has fled death many times in her life, a woman who has experienced war, concentration camps, and gender identity issues, and her life is full of hardships and challenges. She often wondered if she would have been killed in Munich by the Allies. However, her experience makes people wonder whether every turn in life has meaning and value. With the help of volunteers, Salani participated in social activities to try to get rid of the trauma left by the war. However, just six months after her detention in Dachau, World War II was coming to an end. When the German guards learned that the American army was about to liberate the camp, they did not want their previous atrocities to be exposed, so they decided to gather the prisoners and shoot them with machine guns. During this strafing, Salani was shot in the leg and fell to the ground and passed out. A few days later, she woke up at an American field hospital and found herself lying in a pile of mutilated corpses. The American soldiers who rescued her almost thought she was a corpse too. The standard of food in the hospital was so high that some of the inmates rescued from the pile of dead like Salani died of eating too much.
After recovering, Sarani returned to her native Bologna, but her mother nearly fainted when they saw her because they had always thought she had died in a concentration camp. Although the family warmly welcomed her return, Salani decided to leave the city due to gender identity issues. Her own brother stopped playing with her because he felt humiliated. Eventually, Salani moved to Turin and found a rare position working for an upholstery company. At first, she was poorly paid and was often forced to spend the night in her car. However, as her income gradually increased, she finally bought her own house in Turin and had the money left to receive estrogen treatment. During this time, Sarani befriended an orphan named Patrizia. In order to take care of Patrizia, the two soon began to live together. Patrizia affectionately called Sarani "Mama." Sadly, however, Patrizia's death in 2014 left Salani once again plunged into loneliness and grief. Salani's story shows the tenacity and will to survive in the face of extreme difficulties. She has experienced the ordeal of war and faced the test of life and death, but still struggles to survive and find her place and meaning.
Her experience has also provoked food for thought about war, humanity, and gender identity. After reading this story, do you think about whether you have a similar dilemma in your life? In the face of adversity, how should we be resilient? Feel free to share your views and experiences in the comments. Sarani is a brave woman whose life story is a story of courage and endurance. In the 40s of the 20th century, in Bologna, northern Italy, Sarani was a boy, but she was fascinated by women's clothing and cosmetics from an early age. During adolescence, Sarani realizes that she is a girl, but her parents do not understand this and often scold her. To escape this life, she moved to Paris, France at the age of 20. In Paris, Salani found his sense of belonging and became a women's clothing boss. She became good friends with many girls who also liked women's dress. However, her heart has always longed to be able to truly become a girl. So, she decided to go to London for sex reassignment surgery. After the surgery, she finally completed the transition from male to female and took a new name for herself under the name Eselle Lucie.
However, the surgery caused her great pain, which made her decide never to have this surgery again. After returning to Italy, the Civil Affairs Bureau asked Salani to change her name, but she refused. She believes that her name is a gift from her parents and she does not want to give it up. Although her parents never understood and accepted her, Sarani moved back to Bologna after retirement to take care of her parents. Her kindness and courage are admirable. Salani's experience sparked interest in the LGBT community. She is the only Italian LGBT person to survive a Nazi concentration camp and the oldest living LGBT woman in the country. The International Association of Holocaust Victims regularly invites her to commemorations. Salani never forgot her time at Dachau and never forgave those who tortured her. She often had nightmares that she was still imprisoned there, which is why she often attended Holocaust memorials. Salani criticized the treatment of survivors of Italian concentration camps. They have been forgotten by society and no one has asked about their experiences, because many people have become completely indifferent to this topic.
When Sarani volunteered to tell others about these things, many even naively thought it was all fiction and questioned whether she was trying to cheat the compensation. This is sad and infuriating. Salani's story makes us wonder why some people turn a blind eye to those who have experienced great suffering and even question their authenticity. How can we care for those who have been hurt, and provide them with support and comfort? In Italy at the beginning of the 20th century, Jews were forced to suffer various forms of discrimination and persecution. Among them, the Discrimination against Jews Decree promulgated by the fascist government in September 1938 deprived Jews of their rights to the extreme. However, during this dark time, there is a woman who struggles to survive, her name is Livia Salani. Sarani was born in 1917 to a wealthy Jewish family in the northern Italian city of Turin. When she was 20 years old, Nazi Germany was expanding, and Salani's father began planning for his family to escape. Unexpectedly, however, Salani's father was arrested by the authorities and sent to a concentration camp. At this difficult time, Salani and her mother embarked on a long and arduous life in exile.
To survive, Sarani and her mother had to change identities and residences frequently, and travel across Europe. During this time, Sarani witnessed the atrocities and massacres suffered by the Jews, which greatly traumatized her soul. Despite this, Salani persevered and eventually returned to Italy after the war. However, Salani's ordeal is not over. Upon returning to Italy, she found herself socially ostracized and discriminated against like other Jews, and unable to find work and shelter. At this difficult time, Salani decided to stand up and fight for the rights and dignity of the Jews. She became actively involved in society and expressed her views and voices through various channels, eventually becoming a well-known Jewish rights activist. Salani's story is moving and shocking, and her courage and tenacity are admirable. Her experience has also made us deeply aware that racial discrimination and hatred are the ugliest and most horrific aspects of human beings. We should resolutely oppose all forms of discrimination and hatred and strive to build a pluralistic and harmonious society. Salani's story also reminds us that the wounds of history have not fully healed, and on the contrary, the problem of racial discrimination and exclusion remains.
We should strengthen our understanding and reflection on history, strengthen education, and avoid history repeating itself. Only in this way can we truly achieve harmony and development of mankind. After Salani's death, how should we commemorate her legacy and preserve human dignity and harmony?