1,700 kilometers for peace: Italian hikes in his father's footsteps from Bavaria to Apulia

Created: 05/21/2022, 12:00 p.m

Agostino Nicoletti (left) welcomed Pasquale Caputo to his photo studio in Schongau.

© Ursula Gallmetzer

It is an unusual path that Pasquale Caputo is treading.

A journey that countless Italians took after the Second World War to get back to their homeland.

The 73-year-old sets out on foot on the emotionally challenging hike from Bavaria to Apulia – following in his father's footsteps.

Schongau – Pasquale Caputo seeks peace.

Peace with the past, peace with the Germans and, last but not least, his inner peace.

"I was angry at the Germans for a long time and thought they were bad people," admits the 73-year-old, sitting in the armchair in the Nicoletti photo studio.

“But at a marathon in Munich nine years ago, I had an inspiration.

I wanted to make up," he says.

He has just arrived from Kaufbeuren - this time with a driver.

From now on we continue on foot.

"In the footsteps of my father and of all the Italian military internees on the way from the Nazi concentration camps to the birthplace of Barletta," is written in Italian on the yellow flyer that Caputo has with him.

On the back a copy of a postcard.

"Prisoner of war mail" is at the top in bold letters.

Because Caputo's father Francesco was a victim of the Hitler regime.

He belonged to the Italian military and was captured with many of his comrades in Verona in 1943 and taken to Germany.

Via Munich, first probably to Moosburg in a central warehouse, from which it then went on to Memmingen and then to Kaufbeuren.

Exactly that is not understandable.

The documents all disappeared with the Americans.

A few years ago, with the help of the Red Cross in Zurich, Caputo was only able to get hold of an ID card from the prison camp.

It dates from 1943 and was exhibited in Kaufbeuren.

His father worked as a forced laborer in the Kaufbeuren ammunition factory

“My father was illiterate and didn't know what was happening to him.

He probably didn't even know where he was," says Caputo, tears forming in his eyes.

As a forced laborer, Caputo's father had to live with around 2,000 other prisoners in the DAG camp of the Kaufbeur ammunition factory.

He later never spoke to his family about exactly what happened to him there.

But one thing is certain: when he was free again in 1945, he set off on foot back to his home village of Barletta.

Around 1,700 kilometers in 68 days and badly marked by the martyrdom that he had already endured.

Once, Caputo says, he was able to overhear his father talking about his experiences with an acquaintance who had experienced something similar.

But he didn't learn much.

But for years it has been his big dream to follow his father's path.

"I'm doing this now because I have time, I'm healthy and I have enough money for it," explains the former mechanic who worked for Fiat and Lancia.

The ID card from the Kaufbeurer DAG warehouse is the only document that Pasquale Caputo was able to find from his father's time in captivity.

© private

He received support with the organization above all from his sports club, the "barletta sportiva", with whom he worked on the route as well as the contacts and accommodation along it for almost a year.

Many other organizations are also involved;

so did the anti-fascist association Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia, through which contact with Schongauer Agostino Nicoletti came about.

With running shoes and a backpack weighing 14 kilos

From his shop we continue: Rottenbuch, Oberammergau, Garmisch, Innsbruck and then over the Brenner to Italy.

Only Caputo, his running shoes and a 14 kilo backpack with the essentials.

On May 8, the day his father was arrested, he took the train from Italy to Munich.

The goal is supposed to be reached on July 27th – on this day the father also arrived.

There shouldn't be any delays, because Caputo's daughter is expecting her third grandchild shortly after this date.

That's where he wants to be.

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But until then, the experienced athlete still has a lot to do – physically and mentally.

"It's very emotional.

I meet my father and his companions every meter,” he says thoughtfully.

"I'm alone with these thoughts.

But I want to honor my father.” And even more: The pensioner sees his run as a call for peace and the fight against fascism.

"For me, a dictatorship is not a concept," he would also like to draw parallels to current world events.

Caputo is certain that he will make it: "I'm a positive person," he says with a firm gaze.

"I am sure that I will overcome all obstacles."