Having trouble viewing this email? Click here January 25, 2021/ 12 Shevat 5781

The Union of the Italian Jewish Communities stated:
“The crimes of fascism and King Vittorio Emanuele III’s signatures on the racial laws constituted an abomination, a tragic offence in Italian history and they’ll serve as an admonition for generations to come. The republican Constitution reminds us this so clearly, and its very existence is the most eloquent condemnation of that period, of the regime and its leaders.
Today, after 82 years, the king’s descendant, his great-grand-son Emanuele Filiberto expresses his sentiment of disavowal and condemnation of the events. It’s a very generous period of time, so one might ask, why now?
It’s a personal choice anyway, everyone answering for their deeds and to their own conscience.
Neither the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities nor any Jewish Community can in any way grant forgiveness on behalf of all the Jews who were discriminated, denounced, deported and exterminated. In Judaism, even the perpetrator of the offense can’t ask forgiveness to God if first, perceiving the insult and the guilt, did not apologize to the offended party.
The moral condemnation of the regime and of his deeds – that Emanuele Filiberto pronounced for the first time today – has been a waving flag and a torch in the fight for survival for thousands of Jews, resistance fighters and staunch anti-fascists, many of whom have sacrificed their life for their homeland.
For the six million Jews exterminated in concentration camps, the imprisoned Italian soldiers, the politically persecuted, Gypsies and Sinti, disabled people and homosexuals: it’s to honor their memory that any nostalgia for that regime must be sternly fought and stemmed. The condemnation – and not an apology to rehabilitate the family name – must be directed towards the young men and women of Italy, of that Europe that gather us in accordance with fundamental human values, so that they will claim the strongest “never again”.
We acknowledge the consternation and repentance recently expressed through media, ahead of the 27th January. We shall see what concrete daily actions will consequently follow and be an example for the future.
 
The Jewish Community in Rome commented:
“We take notice of Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy’s declarations. The dramatic relationship with the House of Savoy is well-known throughout history and memory. What happened with the racial laws, at the apex of a long-standing collaboration with a dictatorship, is an offense to Italians, whether they are Jews or not, that cannot be forgotten or erased. The silence on these events from that House descendants, lasted more than eighty years, and it’s an ulterior aggravating circumstance. The victims’ descendants have no authority to forgive, nor does it pertain to Jewish institutions to rehabilitate people and events on which History’s judgement is embedded in our country history.

Translated by Silvia Bozzo and revised by Mattia Stefani, 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.

By Adam Smulevich*

“I have gone through many dramatic experiences in my life. A broken childhood at the age of eight as a result of racist laws. Expulsion from school, war, deportation. The horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau. And as if that was not enough, Covid-19. A harrowing experience, with so many people who unfortunately die alone, without comfort or company. However, we will slowly get out of it, especially thanks to the precious and tireless commitment of doctors and healthcare professionals. Today they made me feel at home. I was touched by their kindness and affection.”
Ninety-year-old Sami Modiano is one of the last surviving witnesses of the Holocaust. He had a tiring, yet exciting morning, last Monday. We called him on the phone when he returned home, a few hours after receiving the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at the University Campus Bio-Medico in Rome. His inseparable wife Selma - who also got vaccinated this morning - was by his side.
“We are living in difficult times of great suffering for all mankind. The death count hurts me, but we should not lose hope. If we follow all precautions, everything will be fine sooner or later”, Modiano told Pagine Ebraiche.

(Photo by Stefania Casellato – Regione Lazio)
 
* Translated by Oyebuchi Lucia Leonard and revised by Silvia Bozzo, students at Trieste University and the Advanced school for interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

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“For nearly ninety years, my father has been a promulgator of the Memory. Ironically, the ability to remember was the first thing he lost because of his disease. I then found myself with a father who bore the wounds from the beatings received from the SS, but could no longer remember what they were. Unfortunately, the pandemic kept us apart. Throughout this period, it came pouring something like a natural flow of memories that he no longer shared. A sort of solo conversation with his missing memory”.
Nedo Fiano passed away a month ago. His son Emanuele shares his father’s life and lessons from an unusual perspective in his new book, Il profumo di mio padre (My father’s perfume), published by Piemme. In pages coursing with emotions, he describes in a clear and passionate way; what it truly means to be “a son of the Shoah”. The author talked about it during the first livestream presentation of the book, organized in collaboration with The Shoah Memorial and with the patronage of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

Translated by Oyebuchi Lucia Leonard and revised by Silvia Bozzo, students at Trieste University and the Advanced school for interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

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Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie - descendant du roi d'Italie Victor Emmanuel III qui collabora avec le régime fasciste de Benito Mussolini- a demandé pardon à la communauté juive italienne pour les lois raciales qui ont entraîné la déportation de près de 8.000 juifs italiens à partir de 1943. «Je condamne les lois raciales de 1938, dont je sens encore aujourd'hui tout le poids sur mes épaules et avec moi toute la maison royale de Savoie», écrit le prince de 48 ans, en se dissociant de la signature apposée par son arrière grand-père à «un document inacceptable». Et en mémoire aux victimes italiennes de l'Holocauste, il demande «officiellement pardon» au nom de sa famille, selon cette lettre diffusée sur son compte Facebook et commentée dans un entretien à une chaîne de télévision italienne.
 
*Cet article a été originellement publié sur Le Figaro le 23 Janvier 2021.

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