Anna Maria Enriques Agnoletti

Anna Maria Enriques Agnoletti (1907 – 12 June 1944) was an Italian partisan, shot by the Nazis on 12 June 1944. For her actions in support of the Italian partisan movement she was honored post-mortem with the Gold Medal of Military Valour.

She and Bruni constituted the first nucleus of the Christian Social group, along with a few other friends. It would develop into a movement and finally a political party. In 1943 Anna Maria left her job in Rome and returned to Florence to be near her mother, who had been left alone. Here she began to take part in the Italian resistance movement, assisting Jewish families, providing them with identity paper. She often accompanied them to the City Council for the notarial acts. But on May 12th, 1944, she was betrayed by a fascist informer, who awaited her at home, and arrested her along with her mother. Three days later, Anna was taken to Villa Triste.

Radio CORA (acronym of Commissioner Radio) was a clandestine broadcasting station, managed by the members of the Florentine Action Party, that, from January to June 1944, ensured a connection between the Italian resistance movement and the Allied commands. The creators of the initiative were a group of young people, including Enzo Enriques Agnoletti, and some twenty collaborators.

The activity of the clandestine radio, which transmitted information about German activity in Florence to the Allied commands and sent out calls for help for the partisans, was so important that on 2 June 1944 the allies airdropped some men in Prato to help the radio.

After death, Anna Maria Enriques Agnoletti, was decorated with the Medaglia d'oro al Valor Militare (Gold Medal of Military Valor), accompanied by the following reason: -«Immemore dei propri dolori, ricordò solo quelli della Patria; e nei pericoli e nelle ansie della lotta clandestina ricercò senza tregua i fratelli da confortare con la tenerezza degli affetti e da fortificare con la fermezza di un eroico apostolato. Imprigionata dagli sgherri tedeschi per lunghi giorni, superò con la invitta forza dell'animo la furia dei suoi torturatori che non ottennero da quel giovane corpo straziato una sola parola rivelatrice. Tratta dopo un mese dal carcere delle Murate, il giorno 12 giugno 1944, sul greto del Mugnone, in mezzo ad un gruppo di patrioti, cadeva uccisa da una raffica di mitragliatrice: indimenticabile esempio di valore e di sacrificio.» — Firenze, 15 maggio – 12 giugno 1944.

-"Forgetful of their pain, she remembered only those of her country; and in the dangers and anxieties of the clandestine struggle she sought relentlessly the brothers to comfort with the tenderness of the affections and to fortify with the firmness of a heroic apostolate. Imprisoned by German Germans for long days, she overcame with the invincible strength of the soul the fury of his torturers who did not get from that young body a single revealing word. On June 12, 1944, a month after being taken out of the Murate Prison, in the Mugnone Greto, in the midst of a group of patriots, She was killed by a gunshot bomber: an unforgettable example of value and sacrifice. " – Florence, May 15 – June 12, 1944.

Giorgio La Pira helped her to find a new job: he accompanied her brother Enzo to visit the Archbishop of Florence and thanks to him Anna was hired at the Vatican Library. Anna lived with the nuns, sharing the room with Tea Sesini; the two girls were colleagues at the Vatican Library, and also battle comrades. In 1940 Italy joined World War II. Turmoil brewed at the Vatican Library on account of the anti-fascist movement active there.

In those years the most important figure in Florentine Catholicism was Giorgio La Pira, Anna had a relationship of esteem and affection with him. In 1939, he founded a magazine called "Principi", whose purpose was to show "the abyss of war towards which we are running". This magazine was very important for Anna’s intellectual formation.

In 1938 the Italian Racial Laws were approved in Italy, resulting in an interruption of Anna's studies and carrier, since, despite her conversion, she was still considered a Jew.

In 1936 she was appointed head archivist, continuing her collaboration with the Historical Italian Archive, writing book reviews and conference reports.

Anna initiated the process of converting to Catholicism in 1936, completing it in 1938. It was the result of a spiritual quest that lasted for many years and would impact her life decisions until her death.

In 1932, after her graduation, and having further studied paleography and archival research, Anna Maria got a temporary position at the University as joint assistant, working in the State Archive of Florence

In 1930 she obtained her degree. Her bachelor's thesis supervisor was Nicolaj Ottokar. This encounter was extremely important for her. Nicolaj had come from a Siberian University and during his stay in Russia, he had witnessed the events that led to the October Revolution in 1905. He taught in Florence for 30 years, beginning exactly in the year when Anna first enrolled.

In 1926 she began studying for her bachelor's degree in literature and philosophy.