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February 12, 2018 - Shevat 27, 5778
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NEWS

“Poland, the Memory Is Threatened.
Let Us All Protect It Together”

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By Pagine Ebraiche staff

The President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), Noemi Di Segni, made a plea to scholars, researchers and civil society to protect the right and the duty to the Memory, education and knowledge of the Holocaust. This right and this duty, she says, are being threatened by Poland’s new law, recently signed by President Andrzej Duda.

“If Poland’s constitutional court approves the law, it will be a sad watershed day for the scientific community and for Europe, whose countries have wanted to reaffirm the principles of truth and freedom since the war ended”, UCEI’s president stated. You can join her plea by sending an email to appellopolonia@ucei.it or by using the hashtag #noleggepolonia.

“Poland is a great contry with a great history and gained freedom of speech through sufferings and heroism. A law like the one approved by the Parliament on January 31 betrays these values”, Ms. Di Segni had said to President Duda, trying to dissuade him from signing.

The president of the Union of Polish Jewish communities Leslaw Piszewski and Polish representatives to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance received messages of solidarity and support.

Dear scholars, researchers and civil society,
I plead with you on behalf of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and of all Italian Jews to share a common concern about the freedom of research.

I plead with you after Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a law that entrusts to courts the investigation of historical facts and responsibility that should be studied and analyzed in schools and universities. The few lines approved by the Polish parliament affirm and deny, at the same time, something we should understand from the thousands of brave testimonies to the sufferings endured, coming from all the then occupied countries and territories; from the thousands of lives cut short and childhoods denied; from the myriad of documents and archives. Something we should explore in the hundreds of places that make up the map of hatred, persecution and extermination. It is not just the camps; it is not just the time between September 1, 1939 and January 27, 1945.

No doubt Poland was the victim of a cruel occupation by Nazi Germany, which committed there the most heinous crimes in human history. No doubt thousands of Polish citizens risked their lives and saved many more. But that happened also because of the civilians and the police forces that upheld the centuries-old hatred, that did nothing to prevent the massacre from happening, that worked together all over Poland, that were followed by new groups after the liberation.
The real topic that has been explored in several researches and investigations is not the question of “Polish camps” or “Nazi camps”. It is the topic of responsibility, of the extent of the hatred and the crimes committed, of the dehumanisation and later the extermination, of what Poland lost forever with its three million Jews lost in the ashes of the camps, of the freedom of today’s historical research and art, of using national pride as a shield against any serious and important debate.
If Poland’s constitutional court approves the law, it will be a sad watershed day for the scientific community and for Europe, whose countries have wanted to reaffirm the principles of truth and freedom since the war ended. A watershed between right and wrong. Not for pointing out some places’ names and expressing Polish national pride; it’s a watershed between the denial and the safeguard of the freedom of research and study.
This is why I plead with you, prestigious scholars and citizens of Europe, to join me and commit to protecting the right and the duty to Memory, education, art, knowledge, judgement, and life.

Noemi Di Segni, President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities

Translated by Federica Alabiso, student at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities.

 

news

IHRA Denounces New Polish Legislation

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By Ada Treves

Poland, as a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance is committed to the Stockholm Declaration, IHRA's funding document that was the outcome, in 2000, of a forum attended by the representatives of 46 governments. And the principles of the Stockholm Declaration are clear, the first point being “The Holocaust (Shoah) fundamentally challenged the foundations of civilization. The unprecedented character of the Holocaust will always hold universal meaning”.
IHRA, formerly known as Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, or ITF, unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote Shoah education, research and remembrance, and with its 31 member countries states that international political coordination is imperative to strengthen the moral commitment of societies and to combat growing Holocaust denial and antisemitism.
The Stockholm Declaration continues reminding that the magnitude of the Shoah, planned and carried out by the Nazis, must be seared in collective memory, and that the international community shares a solemn responsibility to fight those evils. Promoting education, remembrance and research about the Shoah, both in those countries that have already done much and those that choose to join the effort, sharing the commitment to encourage the study of the Shoah, and taking all steps to facilitate the opening of archives in order to ensure that all documents are available to researchers.
With this principle it's all too obvious that Ambassador Benno Bättig, Chair of the International Holocaust had signed an appeal to Polish President Duda to reflect on the comments from the international community and to consider the implications of the legislation that the Polish Senate has passed reminding him his Nation's commitment to encourage the study of the Shoah in all its dimensions and to uphold its truth against those who would deny it.

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NEWS

Eliezer Tritto, a Pioneer from Puglia to Israel

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By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Eliezer Tritto, a leader of the Jewish community from Sannicandro di Puglia just passed away a few days ago. He was 89 years old.
Tritto, who lived in Zfat where he ran a legendary falafel kiosk, was in the group of people that embraced Judaism inspired by fellow villager Donato Manduzio (1885-1948) in one of the most incredible episodes of 20th century Jewish history.

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bechol lashon - Español

Autoabsoluciones

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par Gadi Luzzatto Voghera*

“Remarcar claramente que las iniciativas italianas en materia de raza […] no eran espontáneas”, y que “su carácter formal cesó […] cuando los invasores germánicos ampliaron directamente el control a las aplicaciones de las medidas antisemitas.” “Nuestra ley racial no solo casi no ha sido aplicada a casos concretos, sino toda la gente y la práctica totalidad de los órganos administrativos que deberían haber aplicado dicha ley habían competido para sabotearla completamente o, por lo menos, para mitigar lo más posible las consecuencias.” “Las verdaderas persecuciones contra los judíos empezaron, por parte exclusivamente de los alemanes, principalmente después del armisticio firmado el 8 de septiembre de 1943”. Se trata del texto de una carta dirigida por el Embajador italiano en Bruselas al Ministerio del Interior el 26 de junio del 1945.


*Gadi Luzzatto Voghera es el Director de la Fundación CDEC - Centro de Documentación Judía Contemporánea.
Traducción de Ilaria Vozza, estudiante de la Escuela Superior para Intérpretes y Traductores de la Universidad de Trieste, de prácticas en la oficina del periódico de la Unión de las Comunidades Judías Italianas.

Leia mas

pilpul

Elections

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By Daniela Fubini*

Here we go again: the Italian elections are approaching, and my Italian ear is close to deaf. I have plenty of good excuses: extremely entertaining local politics which never fail to reach higher level of noise and cause scandals, and let's not forget war games gone bad with Syria or Iran this past weekend.
Still, as a good Italian abroad who still loves the original country, I have the right to vote. And the way I was brought up, voting is called a “right” but it’s really a duty, so now I have a problem. In a matter of days, my mailbox will receive the visit of a white envelope with my name on it, sent by my ‘other’ government. Inside, a page long explanation on how to mark my vote clearly, insert my vote in a smaller envelope without my name on it, and then insert this one envelope in a medium sized one, if I remember correctly this time with my name as a sender.


*Daniela Fubini (Twitter @d_fubini) lives and writes in Tel Aviv, where she arrived in 2008 from Turin via New York.






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ITALICS

Caponata: The Most Delicious Thing
You Can Make With An Eggplant

img headerBy Laura E. Adkins*

One of the perpetual challenges of the Sabbath-observant Jewish cook is finding colorful and flavorful dishes to serve at Saturday lunch that don’t require tons of day-of prep work or any reheating.
Enter Caponata, a sweet and tangy Southern Italian medley of cooked vegetables and fruits.
Italian cooking, like most regional cuisine, varies widely depending on the physical and landscape. Those closer to the water, for example, feature more fish and seafood in their cooking. Italian Jews entered the country through Southern Italy, and as such, our cuisine is predominantly influenced by the Spanish (Sephardic) and Arabic traditions and ingredients.

*This article was published in the Forward on February 5, 2018.

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moked è il portale dell'ebraismo italiano
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