Watch: Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici Opens Up About Life As A 7-Year-Old ‘Refugee’ In Resurfaced Xandir Malta Interview
As Malta prepares to lay Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici to rest, the national broadcaster has re-published an interview that the then-Prime Minister gave back in the 1980s.
Mifsud Bonnici was interviewed on Xandir Malta, which would later become TVM, by Edward Scicluna, who would eventually become Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor.
In it, he speaks about how he had “lost his childhood” to the Second World War, with Italian bombs raining down on his hometown of Bormla when he was a young boy.
“I was six or seven-year-old when there was a raid on the dockyards. I still remember the siren, or the balomba as we used to call it in Bormla, blaring at 7am and then hearing the Italian bombs falling down a few minutes later,” he said.
“The raids lasted a whole day and people died and suffered injuries. I rememberer family gathered at at the entrance to our home and assuming the arches would stop the bombs.”
He said that the next day, the Mifsud Bonnici evacuated their home and moved to a relative’s house in the centre of Ħamrun.
“We became refugees along with thousands of other families but luckily we had relatives who could offer us a roof over our heads, right in front of the San Gejtanu Church where the PL każin now stands.”
“We spent around five years living there, five years of night raids and running to shelters. We used to stay at the San Ġuzepp każin shelter until a bomb hit a well, which flooded the shelter.”
“Five years of my childhood were lost.”
Mifsud Bonnici, who served as Prime Minister between 1984 and 1987, died on Saturday aged 89 and the country is currently observing two days of national mourning for him.
He will be laid to rest this afternoon at the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady Church in Ħamrun.
What are your memories of Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici?
READ NEXT: Spunt.mt: A Journey Through Maltese History And The Issues That Could Shape Our Future
