On 27 September 1987, in the Council Hall of Prato’s municipal palace, the twinning charter was signed between Prato, the Tuscan town that in March 1944 had seen so many of its citizens torn from their families by Nazi-Fascists after the general strike, and Ebensee, the small Austrian town that was home to the concentration camp where most of the people deported from Prato met their death.
The charter was then signed again at Ebensee in May 1988. The twinning had been the object firmly pursued by some of the few survivors, so that the two communities might engage together in a course of remembrance in the name of peace, brotherhood of men, respect of human rights, justice and solidarity.
Thanks to the twinning there have been many joint projects involving different social worlds of both towns,
above all young people, all inspired by the moral duty to pursue knowledge of the past and never to forget
the evil of which man has been capable.
Photo on the right: 27th of september 1987: The signature of the Mayors Alessandro Lucarini and Rudolf Graf in the Council Hall of Prato.
Photo on the left:: Roberto Castellani (1926-2004). Textile worker, he was arrested following the strike in March 1944 and deported to Mauthausen and Ebensee (serial number 57.027). He dedicated his life to transmitting the memory of the deportation. Above all he was responsible for the idea of the twinning and the birth of the Prato Deportation Museum.