NEWS Italian Holocaust Survivor Appointed Senator for Life

By Pagine Ebraiche staff
 
Liliana Segre, 87, a Holocaust survivor from Milan, has been appointed Senator for life by Italian president Sergio Mattarella.
 
“Life can be very strange. I’m old enough to remember the promulgation of the Anti-Jewish Laws 80 years ago. As I told President Mattarella, back then I was blamed for simply being born. Today, they recognize it as a merit”, Segre told Pagine Ebraiche after the appointment.
 
Born in 1930, Segre was deported to Auschwitz in January 1944 with her father and another 600 Jews. Only 22 came back, among them, Liliana, who in the past 30 years has become one of the most active voices to promote awareness of what happened, and denouncing intolerance and indifference. “Indifference” is the word she asked to be carved on the entrance wall of the Holocaust Memorial in Milan, located in the warehouse of the Central Train Station where she was put on the train to Auschwitz.
 
“This appointment is a beautiful honor, and I’m proud of it”, added Segre. “However, my life is not going to change: schools will remain my priority. My job is to speak to the young, and I’m not going to stop”.
 
“This decision by President Mattarella fulfils the imperative need that the legislative body be aware of what happened in its past, so that it will always infuse the formality of the laws it passes with justice and ethics,” commented the President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Noemi Di Segni, welcoming the honor. 

The artwork is by Giorgio Albertini