A new journey for the “cyclist of Memory”

Giovanni Bloisi, a retired employee of the Italian multiutility company Enel, has cycled thousands of kilometers to raise awareness of the Holocaust. He has cycled to the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau and into Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. As he said, “Memory must be passed down, even by pedaling.”
This time, the “Cyclist of Memory” will not travel far from home. His first stop will be Baveno, a town in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola overlooking Lago Maggiore, less than 50 kilometers from his hometown in Varano Borghi, in northwestern Lombardy. In September 1943, following the Italian surrender, the SS occupied that area, and atrocious massacres against civilians ensued. The first roundup of Jews in Italy took place in Baveno between September 13 and 14, and over the following days dozens of Jewish prisoners were murdered on the shores of Lago Maggiore.
On the anniversary, Bloisi has proposed to install information totems in Italian, English, and German across the localities involved (Arona, Baveno, Bee, Intra, Meina, Mergozzo, Novara, Orta, Ranco, and Stresa). Local institutions have welcomed the initiative, and many associations have adhered. A series of events is planned along with the installation. Giovanni Bloisi’s last stop will be in Meina, where the SS murdered 16 Jews between September 22 and 23, 1943. The initiative is supported by the Jewish Community of Vercelli, among others.