Historians’ points of view
on Kertzer’s new book
“Pius XII, a coward pope”

The concept of “silence” appears more than fifty times. An already meaningful number that even doubles if we consider another emblematic term such as “fear”. Attitudes and moods that were the hallmark of Eugenio Pacelli’s controversial pontificate. And in particular of his relationship with Hitler and Mussolini, which has always fascinated historians, and actually, not… leggi 

Holocaust, Italian stories of accomplices

Rome, Trieste, Milan, Florence. The new documentary by the Museum of the Shoah Foundation journeys through four Italian cities to explore the period marked by Jewish persecutions. Titled “Storie della Shoah in Italia. I complici” “Stories of the Shoah in Italy. The accomplices”, the film is curated by the historians Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi and Isabella… leggi 

Marc Chagall, scenes of Jewish life 

From his roots in his native Vitebsk, described with love and nostalgia in the series My Life, to the encounter with his beloved wife Bella Rosenfeld, whose books he later illustrated; from the representation of the horror of the pogroms to the recreation on canvas of biblical events.   Marc Chagall’s work continues to fascinate the… leggi 

Odessa, le visage des nombreuses identités juives 

Par Daniel Reichel Mark Twain, débarqué au milieu du 19ème siècle à Odessa, décrit la ville sur la mer Noire comme une petite Amérique. C’est un lieu de culture, d’énergie, où les gens peuvent se construire une nouvelle identité et repartir à zéro. Un rêve américain aux confins de l’empire russe. “Odessa n’avait pas sa… leggi 

Jewish weddings rites and history,
MEIS exhibition goes online

The MEIS exhibition “Mazal Tov! The Jewish marriage” is now online. The project, curated by Sharon Reichel and Rabbi Amedeo Spagnoletto, illuminates a fundamental passage of Jewish life, which is nurtured by precepts and rites of the past, represents an emblem of continuity, is rotted in the Bible, and yet, in marking the birth of… leggi 

Les images des enfants abandonnés 

Par Dario Calimani Parmi toutes les images épouvantables avec lesquelles la tragédie de l’Ukraine nous nargue tous les jours, la plus angoissante, encore plus des morts – exécutés et abandonnés dans les rues comme des ordures – encore plus des dix mille enfants brutalement tués, c’est l’image des enfants qui restent seuls, orphelins, abandonnés dans… leggi 

Er 

Von Gadi Luzzatto Voghera* Er, das absolut Böse, scheint immer die Hauptperson unserer Alpträume zu sein. Er wird von den Massen heraufbeschworen (kürzlich von den Impfgegnern), die großen politischen Leader sprechen von ihm. Seien sie die Gemäßigten, die große Länder regieren, oder belagerte Präsidenten, die tagsüber und nachts bombardiert werden. Er erscheint vor uns mit… leggi 

A shiver

By Anna Foa* I get a photo on Facebook. It is set in an unspecified American city in 1941. It is an Easter march for peace. I remember that the United States only entered the war in December 1941, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. In the front row, a middle-aged woman with a funny… leggi 

Ticketless – Reading Yehoshua

Alberto Cavaglion* I have always enjoyed studying the reception of a writer in a country (or period) different from their own. Reading Yehoshua was the title of an anthology edited by Emanuela Trevisan Semi, which however does not go further than 2006. In this case, I took part in this reception, since one of the first reviews… leggi 

The duty to ask

By Anna Segre During the Passover seder, the narrative of liberation from slavery cannot begin without a question. It is not just a device to attract the attention of the little ones: the Talmud explicitly prescribes that even “two learned scholars, who know the rules of Pesach, ask each other”, or even, in the absence… leggi