MEIS Director Della Seta appointed head of the Yad Vashem European Department
By Pagine Ebraiche staff
The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah in Ferrara (MEIS) Management Board announced that the museum’s Director Simonetta Della Seta was appointed Director of the European Department of Yad Vashem’s International School of Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem, one of the highest teaching and research institutions, whose aim is to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust.
Della Seta took up this prestigious post at the end of her four-year term at the Museum.
The Management Board, along with the Board of Auditors, the Scientific Committee and all the staff of the museum, expressed their “great satisfaction for this important role that their Director will cover from 1st September 2020 onwards and that she was certainly given also following her tireless work at MEIS”.
On behalf of all the institutions of the Museum, President Dario Disegni expressed “sincere thanks to Director Della Seta for managing the Museum in the last four years achieving extraordinary results which allowed us to build a new national museum complex under the supervision of the Managing Board, the thorough collaboration of the Scientific Committee and the hard work of all the staff. This new museum complex offers visitors a consistent and unique experience about history, culture and values of Italian Judaism and of Judaism in general”.
In the last few years, not only did MEIS set up three fundamental historical exhibitions on Italian Jews and some significant contemporary expositions, but it also launched the Museum’s permanent exhibition and contributed to the national and international debate on highly topical issues, such as reception, dialogue with minorities, Europe’s roots, antisemitism, and the memory of the Holocaust.
“While a call for applications for the new director has just been published”, the report says, “MEIS wishes all the best to Simonetta Della Seta for her professional career, with the certainty that she will keep following closely the museum’s mission”.
“I will leave MEIS in June, with the awareness of having created an important institution for Italy, Europe and the whole Jewish world, in collaboration with President Disegni, the Managing Board, the Scientific Committee and the wonderful staff with which she still works every day,” Della Seta said.
“Nowadays MEIS is an institution spreading knowledge and values. We are not the only ones to claim it, but so do the tens of thousands of people visiting the Museum. The city of Ferrara will always be in my heart. I am deeply grateful to all those who accompanied, advised, guided and supported me during this journey. Having contributed all together to foster our Country’s culture is an honor. I hope that MEIS and those who will keep on building this extraordinary project will get the recognition they deserve. Even though I will no longer be with them, I will never leave them,” she added.
Translated by Sara Facelli and revised by Mattia Stefani, both students at the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreting and Translation of Trieste University and interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.