Antonio Vatta

"Remember that we have opted to leave, because when someone says: ´They chased you away´, it's not like they chased us away with a rifle. ´Stay here and you will become a Yugoslav citizen, if you want to go away you have to opt for that and sign that you are going away. ´ If you signed up to leave, you lost all your work rights, one thing and the other… So I always say that we left on our own accord because we wanted to keep our citizenship, or better, our nationality. Because one can acquire citizenship, but can’t acquire nationality. We in Zadar became Italians only after the war of 1915-1918 (First World War). Before that we were Venetians, then we were Austrian for 700 years, but before that we were Venetians. Our culture was Venetian so we wanted to keep this culture and since we had acquired that nationality (Italian) we wanted to keep that nationality too."

"After the first bombing in 1943, in December Zadar was already getting empty. Because they made the first bombing in November, then another bombing in December or at the end of November. Zadar as a territory was not big… and the first ones from Zadar left on the ´Sansego´, which was a ship, in December 1943. Then (others left) in 1944, in the spring. The shore was full of household goods because they took everything with them. My dad worked in the prefecture and so we stayed until the end because my mom didn't want to leave. Then, in the end, on October 30th 1944, my dad came home on his bicycle and asked me where mum was ... (and told me ) to go call her because we're going away ... I went to call her and we took what there was to take, a suitcase in our hand and the rags we had on and we went away. We boarded a destroyer. The prefecture was leaving with all the officials and it was the last chance to leave, with the prefect and everyone ... when we arrived in front of the island of Pag they started firing on the ship from the ground and the ship began to respond … We managed to pass and arrived in Rijeka."

"In 1943 we had the first bombing. I was in second grade. On November 2nd, they started bombing at night and for two hours they came and went, and bombed Zadar. Today, the football games are played at night you know, and it looks like daylight. I remember that then, all at once, the whole city was illuminated. We, who were ignorant of those things, said: ´The city caught fire! The city caught fire!´. And my dad, who arrived home, said: ´No, they are throwing the rockets and soon they will bomb.´ And so it happened. And they bombed, and the first bomb that fell, fell on my school."