International

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

April 16, 2018 - Iyar 1, 5778

NEWS

Poland, Dealing with Remembrance

By Sandro De Bernardin*

On February 6, the Polish President Andrzej Duda signed the law that amends the previous act on the Institute of National Remembrance and provides for the detention for up to three years of anyone “who, in public and against the facts, ascribes to the Polish Nation or to the Polish State, responsibility or co-responsibility for Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich” or for “other crimes against peace, humanity or war crimes”. Penalties will not be imposed on “cultural and artistic activities”.
The President was aware of the heated international debate during the progress of the measure. Nevertheless, he announced its submission to the Constitutional court to verify if it violates freedom of expression and if it is clear enough what forms of expression must be sanctioned.
In fact, several academics and even the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) strongly criticised the new provisions because in Article 55a the criminal act is mentioned in vague terms. The Article does not specify which authority and which content will establish if a statement or a historical re-enactment are punishable. Moreover, it is not clear how it will be determined if the deed is committed as part of an artistic or scientific activity. Or what would constitute a malicious defamation of Poland: a research, a statement, the memoir of a survivor or of a witness, the story of a tour guide?

*Sandro De Bernardin is an ambassador and the Head of the Italian Delegation at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. On March 6 he became the chair of IHRA for 2018. The article was originally published in the Magazine of Treccani, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana and was translated by Sara Volpe and Rachele Ferin, students at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

Read more

news

Poland, a Journey into Kielce Pogrom
and the New Wave of Anti-Semitism

By David Assael

Kielce is the polish town where one of the greatest pogrom occurred after World War II. In 1946, 40 Jews survivors from the Holocaust were killed by the local population and more than 80 were injured. During the communist period, the responsibilities of polish populations were removed, but after the 1989 Bogdan Bialek, a Polish journalist and a psychologist born in Bialywstok in 1955, decided to break the silence and to stimulate a public discussion on those events. The documentary "Bogdan's journey" originates from his confrontation with the deepest prejudices of Kielce's people. Filmed in Poland, Israel and the United States, the film got important prizes all around the world. A moving trip among the memories of the witnesses and the reactions of the people of the town.

NEWS

Naples Youth Soccer Team Visits
Shoah Memorial

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

The Primavera team of Naples visited the Milan’ Shoah Memorial last week. The players were in Milan for a match of the Italian youth football championship and they were accompanied on the visit by their coach Loris Beoni, Naples’ communication manager Nicola Lombardo and by the president of the Memorial, Roberto Jarach.
In the past few months a number of Italian teams have visited the site, especially following the affront to the figure of Anne Frank by Lazio fans.

bechol lashon - Portugués

Celebrações

David Bidussa*

Não consigo entender bem o que celebraremos no próximo 25 de abril.
Provavelmente nada.

David Bidussa, historiador social das ideias.
Tradução de Anna Zanette, estudante da Universidade de Trieste, estagiária na redação jornalística da União das Comunidades Judaicas Italianas.

pilpul

Elections

By Daniela Fubini*

Commuting by train gives undeniable advantages. Even on the Israeli railways, where the longest possible ride is about four hours long, in the complete absence of fast trains, and with a route map as simple as the drawing of a stick man made by a four year old. First of all, there is a strong chance you'll be able to sit. And that means you can relax, take a nap, enjoy the scenery, read a book. Of course the vast majority of the commuters spend the entire ride playing with their cellphone: watching videos and exchanging messages on WhatsApp. In the early morning you will see people praying - usually on their cellphone through an app like "Tfilon", "Smart siddur" or "Siddur to go". Men and women alike, wearing a kippa or a skirt or not, some in perfectly hiloni (non religious) attire.

*Daniela Fubini (Twitter @d_fubini) lives and writes in Tel Aviv, where she arrived in 2008 from Turin via New York.

Read more

ITALICS

‘Like a Mitzvah’: Italian Conductor Brings
to Life Music Composed in the Camps

By Jessica Steinberg*

When the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra performs a selection of reconstructed music composed by Holocaust victims next week in Jerusalem, it will feel like the fulfillment of a mitzvah, said Italian conductor Francesco Lotoro, using the Hebrew word for a meritorious act.
“To play this music feels like a reparation for me,” said Lotoro. “Each Jew is said to have a book in them. These victims didn’t get the chance to write their books, but this is their book; it’s a testament to what they would have done.”
It’s been nearly 30 years since Lotoro began a laborious process of researching works of music composed in the concentration camps, delving into the lives and thoughts of the victims who found ways to write lyrics and compose scores.

*This article was published in The Times of Israel on April 12, 2018.

moked è il portale dell'ebraismo italiano

This newsletter is published under difficult conditions. The editors of this newsletter are Italian journalists whose native language is Italian. They are willing to offer their energy and their skills to give international readers the opportunity of learning more about the Italian Jewish world, its values, its culture and its traditions.
In spite of all our efforts to avoid this, readers may find an occasional language mistake. We count on your understanding and on your help and advice to correct these mistakes and improve our publication.

Pagine Ebraiche International Edition is published by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI). UCEI publications encourage an understanding of the Jewish world and the debate within it. The articles and opinions published by Pagine Ebraiche International Edition, unless expressly stated otherwise, cannot be interpreted as the official position of UCEI, but only as the self-expression of the people who sign them, offering their comments to UCEI publications. Readers who are interested in making their own contribution should email us at desk@ucei.it
You received this newsletter because you authorized UCEI to contact you. If you would like to remove your email address from our list, or if you would like to subscribe using a new email address, please send a blank email to desk@ucei.it stating "unsubscribe" or "subscribe" in the subject field.

© UCEI - All rights reserved - The articles may only be reproduced after obtaining the written permission of the editor-in-chief. Pagine Ebraiche - Reg Rome Court 199/2009 – Editor in Chief: Guido Vitale.
Special thanks to: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Amanda Benjamin, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Dori Fleekop, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Jonathan Misrachi, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Colby Robbins, Danielle Rockman, Lindsay Shedlin, Michael Sierra, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman, Sahar Zivan.

Questo notiziario è realizzato in condizioni di particolare difficoltà. I redattori di questo notiziario sono giornalisti italiani di madrelingua italiana. Mettono a disposizione le loro energie e le loro competenze per raccontare in lingua inglese l'ebraismo italiano, i suoi valori, la sua cultura e i suoi valori. Nonostante il nostro impegno il lettore potrebbe trovare errori e imperfezioni nell'utilizzo del linguaggio che faremo del nostro meglio per evitare. Contiamo sulla vostra comprensione e soprattutto sul vostro aiuto e sul vostro consiglio per correggere gli errori e migliorare.

Pagine Ebraiche International Edition è una pubblicazione edita dall'Unione delle Comunità Ebraiche Italiane. L'UCEI sviluppa mezzi di comunicazione che incoraggiano la conoscenza e il confronto delle realtà ebraiche. Gli articoli e i commenti pubblicati, a meno che non sia espressamente indicato il contrario, non possono essere intesi come una presa di posizione ufficiale, ma solo come la autonoma espressione delle persone che li firmano e che si sono rese gratuitamente disponibili. Gli utenti che fossero interessati a offrire un proprio contributo possono rivolgersi all'indirizzo desk@ucei.it

Avete ricevuto questo messaggio perché avete trasmesso a Ucei l'autorizzazione a comunicare con voi. Se non desiderate ricevere ulteriori comunicazioni o se volete comunicare un nuovo indirizzo email, scrivete a: desk@ucei.it indicando nell'oggetto del messaggio "cancella" o "modifica".

© UCEI - Tutti i diritti riservati - I testi possono essere riprodotti solo dopo aver ottenuto l'autorizzazione scritta della Direzione. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition - notiziario dell'ebraismo italiano - Reg. Tribunale di Roma 199/2009 - direttore responsabile: Guido Vitale.
Realizzato con il contributo di: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Amanda Benjamin, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Dori Fleekop, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Jonathan Misrachi, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Colby Robbins, Danielle Rockman, Lindsay Shedlin, Michael Sierra, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman, Sahar Zivan.