On 26th may 1940, 299 patients of the psychiatric hospital of Pergine Valsugana were deported to various destinations in the territory of the 3rd Reich. Most of them never made it back: they were killed by an ideology that considered them worthless lives. This record is dedicated to their memory.
Anne Körtig came into the world in 1916 in Bozen (Italy). At the time, when the First World War was raging, her life was indelibly marked by the sudden death of her father at the front.
Her childhood in Südtirol became troubled: she began to lock herself into her room with a piano and music as the only friend. Her mother was desperate to help her, as she gradually grove more distant from the outside world.
Years passed by, the hopeless mother finally decided to contact the mental hospital of Pergine Valsugana in Trentino to take care of her sick daughter.
Anne spent three long years in the institute, thinking about the few loved things she left behind: her home, her mother and the music.
In may 1940 she was put on a train departing from Italy, together with other German mother tongue patients who faithfully opted to continue treatments on German soil.
The so called ‘Aktion T4’ had started: Anne was transferred to the hospital of Zweifalten to finally end her painful journey in the Euthanasia Center of Hadamar.