Carlo D'Angeli was born in Milan, Italy, on December 2, 1938. He was the son of Mario and Renata (Fiorentini). His father was a clerical worker.
Jews had lived in Milan, a large commercial and industrial city in northern Italy, since Roman times. Jews received full rights in 1859, when Milan became part of the new Italian kingdom. In 1931, there was a substantial Jewish community in the city. Most Jews living in Milan were well educated, industrious, and middle class.
Italian Jews were well integrated into all aspects of Italian social and cultural life. They worked in nearly every profession, including government and the military.
When Mussolini passed his anti-Jewish racial laws in November 1938, Jews were barred from most professions and from public education. They were devastated -- both economically and emotionally. During the war, life went on for most Jews. It was, however, a little harder than before. Everyone knew families with members who had converted, emigrated, or had been arrested. Many endured unpleasant antisemitic incidents, and it was extremely hard to make a living.
When Hitler invaded Italy on September 8, 1941, Carlo was almost five years old. His family was evacuated to the small town of Montecatini-Terme to escape the bombing. One month later, the Germans began rounding up Jews for deportation to death camps in Poland and Germany.
On November 5, 1943, members of the Fascist Militia and the German SS found Carlo, his parents, and his baby brother, Massimo. On November 9, they were shoved into an overcrowded, unsanitary cattle car in Florence. This train, the second deportation train to leave Italian soil, carried at least 400 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp.
Carlo's train arrived in Auschwitz on November 14, 1943. Immediately upon arrival, he was sent to the gas chambers, where he was murdered.
In two weeks, he would have been five years old.
