{"id":10464,"date":"2025-02-19T10:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T09:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/?p=10464"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:33:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T07:33:59","slug":"remembrance-on-the-right-side-the-policemen-who-saved-jews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2025\/02\/19\/remembrance-on-the-right-side-the-policemen-who-saved-jews\/","title":{"rendered":"REMEMBRANCE \u2013 On the right side: the policemen who saved Jews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cIf am here today, it is because two families and two brave policemen saved my family when, when Jews were chased and persecuted in the last century,\u201d recalled Ermanno Smulevich (photo below) on February 13 in the Hall of the Queen at Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies in Roma. Italian Police commissioners Giovanni Palatucci in Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) and Mariano De Vita in Tuscany dared to go against the tide and helped the Smulevich family to escape Nazi-fascist persecution. These two were able to disobey orders and refuse to hand over men, women and children who were being persecuted simply because they were Jews. Their stories, like those of dozens of other agents of the Italian police, are now told in Fecero la scelta giusta<\/em> (They Made the Right Choice), curated by Raffaele \"\"Camposano and presented at an event attended by Italian President Sergio Mattarella. The two-volume research delves into the historical archives of the police to reconstruct the names and biographies of public servants who participated in the Resistance or helped Jews.
\u201cIt is an indelible example that must be passed on to the new and future generations of law enforcement officers,\u201d said Chief of Police Vittorio Pisani at the opening ofthe event.
The research, as UCEI President Noemi Di Segni highlighted, contains two fundamental dimensions: that of who had the possibility to make a choice and that of who, as victim of a superior power, were not allowed to. Di Segni emphasized the value of choice, which shapes actions regarding faith, morale, law, and duties \u2013 particularly for those, like the State police, who operate in a hierarchical context. As a central principle of Judaism teaches, she recalled, \u201cAnd you will choose life\u201d (Deuteronomy 30: 15-20).
During Fascism and the Nazi occupation, few people made the right choice, explained the Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni. Following Nazi orders, agents of the Italian Police searched his family home in September 1943. \u201cI tell this story here today because the memory of antisemitic persecution and the State\u2019s participation in it is still alive in our community.\u201d At the same time, the Rabbi continued, we must not forget the individual courage of who, within the State hierarchy, \u201cresisted such orders, ignoring them, slowing down their execution, alerting the victims, facilitating their escape, turning a blind eye, and facing grave personal risks by refusing to comply.\u201d
A striking example is that of De Vita, a commissioner in Pisa, Tuscany, \u201cMy grandfather, Sigismondo Smulevich, established a confidential and deeply respectful relationship with him,\u201d recalled his grandson Ermanno. Through his father Alessandro\u2019s diaries, Ermanno reconstructed his family history in the book Matti e Angeli. Una famiglia ebraica nel cuore della Linea Gotica. Diario 1943-1944<\/em>\u00a0(Matti e Angeli. A Jewish Family in the Heart of the Gothic Line) published in 2023 by Pendragon. On 30 November 1943, when the Fascist regime ordered the arrest of Jews, \u201cDe Vita immediately dispatched his brother, a policeman, undercover to Firenzuola (a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Florence), to warn my parents to go deeper into hiding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d.r.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf am here today, it is because two families and two brave policemen saved my family when, when Jews were chased and persecuted in the last century,\u201d recalled Ermanno Smulevich (photo below) on February 13 in the Hall of the Queen at Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies in Roma. Italian Police… leggi <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1871,"featured_media":10468,"menu_order":500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14987],"tags":[],"position":[],"class_list":["post-10464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"\nREMEMBRANCE \u2013 On the right side: the policemen who saved Jews - Pagine Ebraiche International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2025\/02\/19\/remembrance-on-the-right-side-the-policemen-who-saved-jews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REMEMBRANCE \u2013 On the right side: the policemen who saved Jews - Pagine Ebraiche International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cIf am here today, it is because two families and two brave policemen saved my family when, when Jews were chased and persecuted in the last century,\u201d recalled Ermanno Smulevich (photo below) on February 13 in the Hall of the Queen at Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies in Roma. 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