By David Meghnagi* It has been seven years since Reuven Feuerstein’s passing. Though, his voice has kept on resonating with those who could know and appreciate his scientific and cultural commitment and his open-mindedness. Born in 1921 from a rabbi family, the fifth of nine sons, Feuerstein grew up in a religious Zionist setting which …
By Alberto Cavaglion* Geel is a Flemish city, isolated for centuries and ignored by history. From the perspective of the history of mental illnesses and their cures, it has a particularly unique history. Right from medieval times, the mentally ill from all over Europe went there to beg for healing. The secular France will begin …
By Gadi Luzzatto Voghera* After five years of controversy related to the working definition of antisemitism approved by the IHRA in 2016, a new and interesting attempt is on the horizon to propose a useful tool to combat the resurgent and widespread anti-Jewish hostility. The differences between the two documents are primarily institutional. While that …
By Alberto Cavaglion * Every week that passes the post-pandemic scene becomes clearer. There is something akin to the post-war period, the third if we do not give credit to the fools who turned their backs on the 20th century. A discouraging outlook that I, despite how much was written, I still read with twentieth …
By David Bidussa* To relaunch tourism, Dubai offers three items package: travel, accommodation, and vaccine. Equality is optional. *Historian of social ideas
By Alberto Cavaglion* The book by Olinto Domenichini Le ricerche hanno dato esito negativo (Cierre, 2021, Searches did not succeed), which tells the story of benevolent policemen and racial persecution in Verona in the years 1943-1945, deserves to be noted for its extensive archival sources and its framework, which is not only linked to the …
Von David Bidussa* Wenn ich Zweifel und Unsicherheiten habe, lese ich noch einmal die Worte von Inge Scholl. Ihre Geschwister Hans und Sophie Scholl gründeten die “Weiße Rose” d. h. eine Widerstandsgruppe gegen das NS-Regime. Und sie wurden am 22. Februar 1943 hingerichtet. Jahre später – beim Verfolgen ihre Geschichte – fragte sie sich: “Aber …
By Gadi Luzzatto Voghera* Exploring the ever-growing collection of the CDEC Foundation’s archive and library is an activity that can hold interesting surprises and teach a lot. Take for example the next Purim festival, which Jewish children (and adults too) from all over the world have used to celebrate for centuries with joy by organizing …
By David Meghnagi* A unique combination of psychological, stylistic and formal elements resulted from Primo Levi’s scientific education, with his plain language, his “marble” prose – far from “the language of the heart” – and the moral tension of his writings. He thereby gave body to one of the most significant works about the experience …
Von Anna Foa* Anlässlich des Tages des Gedenkens an die Opfer des Holocausts, am 27. Januar, hat Gabriele Nissim, Präsident von Gariwo, drei Vorschläge vor dem Ausschuss für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten der Abgeordnetenkammer unterbreitet. Die Vorschläge betreffen die Verhütung und die Bestrafung der Völkermorde und sind vom Ausschuss angenommen worden. Die Verhütung und die Bekämpfung der …
By Alberto Cavaglion* The first good news of 2021 is delivered by the Superintendence for the Archival and Bibliographical Goods in Emilia-Romagna: the restoration of the 96 books of Villa Emma’s kids is completed. I remember when news of the finding spread out. The books were found in 2002 in an attic in Nonantola, near …
Par Anna Foa* Je crois que nous sommes confrontés à des nouvelles formes d’antisémitisme et que, comme beaucoup de choses autours de nous, l’hostilité envers les Juifs est aussi en train de changer de nature. Ou alors, plus que changer totalement sa nature, elle réintroduit de façon renouvelée et avec d’autres priorités le langage antisémite …
Alberto Cavaglion* The debate on the uniqueness of the Holocaust has been repeatedly a burning issue and still is today. I have followed the various discussions on this portal over the last week with great interest but also with a touch of weariness. I have found them outdated. I fear that the issue of remembrance …
Von David Bidussa * Am 7. Dezember 1970 tat Willy Brandt, Bundeskanzler der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, eine schweigende und einsame Geste: Er kniete sich vor dem Denkmal der Helden des Warschauen Ghetto nieder. Die Geste wurde weder in Deutschland noch in Polen positiv aufgenommen und wurde auch nicht weder als angebracht noch als befreiend gesehen. Für …
Von David Bidussa* Am Freitag, den 27. November, eröffnete Abraham B. Yehoshua das „Festival des Klassikers“ bei der Stiftung Circolo dei Lettori in Turin (wenn Sie möchten, können Sie es hier hören). Er stellte eine unvermeidliche Frage: Welche Bedeutung haben Mythen für die Schaffung der Identität – religiös, politisch und national? Zählt es zu wissen, …
David Bidussa* Many years ago, Susan Sontag, in “Illness as Metaphor”, a book that has been lost for a long time and which the publisher Nottetempo will release again in bookstores on November 19th, warned against considering illnesses as moral malaises and psychic failures. “Illness – she wrote in the first lines of the work …
November 4 was the 25th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s murder. Just to remind us of how much death and suffering can be caused and are still in the name of God. Of any God. Stefano Jesurum
In einem Interview des 22. Oktober von Marion Galy Ramounot von “Madame Figaro”, wenn über den Grund befragt, woraus sie nach dem Mord an Samuel Paty eine Karikatur von «Charlie Hebdo» veröffentlicht hat, antwortete Delphine Horvilleur das Folgende: „Nichts macht uns mehr wachsen, als wenn wir widersprochen werden.“ Danach fügte sie hinzu, dass ein gewaltiges …
By Alberto Cavaglion* We have been a little lonelier recently. Aldo Zargani – the unforgettable author of Per violino solo – For solo violin (1995, Il Mulino) – died yesterday in Rome. Including his book among those belonging to the abundant yet not always memorable Italian memoir writings on the Holocaust of the last 30 …
By David Bidussa Around those who lost their lives in the Bologna massacre, a name often comes up: Maria Fresu who, together with her 3-year-old daughter Angela, on the morning of August 2, 1980 at 10.25, was in the waiting room of the train station. Maria Fresu, 24, was 1,48 m tall. Of her, nothing …