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29 August1939
In Sanremo while Europe plummets
Author
Famiglia Barzizza
Format
9,5mm
Credits
Music & sound design by Lorenzo Valdesalici

A happy summer in Sanremo, it could also be the last one, but nobody knows. Pippo Barzizza laughs and jokes shirtless, on his bicycle. His children Isa and Renzo are also having fun on two wheels. His wife Tatina sports a splendid dress and, as often happens in the Barzizza household, friends and relatives, dogs and cats take part in what seems to be a continuous party. Everyone is smiling in front of the camera and the peaceful atmosphere pervades these images shot on the Riviera. The grandmother, however, at one point unwittingly takes us somewhere else. She is filmed, absorbed in reading the Nice newspaper, "L'Éclaireur" of this day, 29 August 1939. The headline on the front page reports that "Sir Nevile Henderson a remis hier au chancelier Hitler la réponse de la Grande-Bretagne." Sir Nevile Henderson, the British ambassador in Berlin, yesterday delivered Great Britain's reply to Chancellor Hitler. The reply concludes with a warning that failure to reach a settlement "would ruin the hopes of better understanding between Germany and Great Britain, would bring the two countries into conflict, and might well plunge the whole world into war. Such an outcome would be a calamity without parallel in history.’ It may be that the Barzizzas buy the newspaper across the nearby border in France to get news that is not necessarily flattened by Germany, Italy's ally, about to attack Poland. August is ending and the situation is precipitating. With the beginning of September and the invasion of Poland, the Second World War will break out.

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