REMEMBRANCE/ROME – An exhibition tells the story of the “non-liberation” of Nazi camps
The condition of 13 extermination camps and their sub-camps between 1944 and 1945, starting with those lesser-known in the Baltic region, is the focus of the new exhibition inaugurated at the Shoah Museum Foundation in Rome. Curated by historian Marcello Pezzetti, the project “is to challenge a widespread and misleading ‘rhetoric of liberation.’ In many cases, speaking of liberation is a historical error, as the Nazis often abandoned the camps before the arrival of the Soviets and Americans.” In other words, there was no resistance—or at least very little. “That’s why the concept of liberation is not even mentioned in the title,” Pezzetti clarified.
Through emotionally powerful images, the exhibition helps visitors understand “the horrifying conditions” in those camps. Documents and often graphic photographs are on display, including in a multimedia installation room “which can only be accessed from a certain age, from middle school onwards.” Alongside the photos and videos, there will be Italian testimonies about the opening of the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau and other camps involved in the so-called “Final solution.”
The road to Rome
This is an exhibition, went on the historian, where “big history interacts with many microhistories.” “There are also lesser-known stories. Like that of the Roman Jew Giacomo Moscato, who, after leaving Mauthausen, asked a farmer for directions to Rome: a farmer who could have only pointed him to Linz, Austria, at best …” Among the topics discussed, is the Bolzano transit camp in the Gries-San Quirino district, in Trentino Alto Adige, which remained active until the end of World War II, and the San Sabba Risiera in Trieste, Italy’s only extermination camp, located just a few kilometers from Piazza Unità, where on September 18, 1938, Benito Mussolini had announced the racial laws. The exhibition also focuses on the painful “returns” from places of internment and extermination to the cities of origin. Two catalogs are available: one in Italian and the other in English.
The mural by aleXsandro Palombo
The exhibition’s opening was preceded by the unveiling of the mural “Antisemitism, history repeating” by artist aleXsandro Palombo, depicting Liliana Segre and Sami Modiano in their concentration camp uniforms. The artwork, which had been vandalized twice in Milan, was acquired by the Shoah Museum Foundation and is placed beneath a plaque outside the building commemorating October 16, 1943, the day when the raid on the Roman Ghetto took place. “When we learned of the vandalism, we were overwhelmed with indignation,” said Mario Venezia, president of the Foundation. “But we didn’t give in to this symbolic violence. We transformed anger into an act of beauty and resistance, reaching out to the artist, who managed to reinvent the piece and create a new version in Rome.” The artwork will be on display outdoors until February 2, after which it will be moved to the Foundation’s headquarters.
As part of the activities organized by the Shoah Museum Foundation of Rome for Holocaust Remembrance Day, an event for middle and high school students took place at the Teatro Argentina on January 24. The meeting featured Holocaust survivor Sami Modiano and marked the release of the book Così siamo diventati fratelli (This is how we became brothers), co-authored with Marco Caviglia, which focuses on his friendship with Piero Terracina, another survivor. From January 26 to 28, a Journey of Memory was held for local students, organized by Rome’s municipal government and Metropolitan city, with support from the Foundation.
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