Having trouble viewing this email? Click here  April 12, 2021 - 30 Nissan 5781

Around the Holocaust Memorial Day, a discussion has arisen on the Italian media about the recognition by Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center of the champion road cycler Gino Bartali as a Righteous among the Nations. In the following letter, the Director of the Department of the Righteous Among the Nations of Yad Vashem Joel Zisenwine clarifies the issue.

Recently, there have been reports in the media raising opposition to the recognition of Gino Bartali as Righteous Among the Nations. It appears that many incorrect details have been published as a result of a basic misunderstanding of the process and procedures of this highly esteemed recognition, as well as the role of the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations. I would therefore like to clarify a few points, in the hope that this will help provide the information necessary to present matters in the right context.
The founders of Yad Vashem, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, included as part of the Yad Vashem Law of 1953, enacted by the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the responsibility to recognize the selfless actions of non-Jewish people who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. In the 1960s, Yad Vashem decided to appoint an external independent public committee comprised of volunteers – Holocaust survivors and experts on the history of various Jewish communities from various Jewish communities – in order to review and approve individuals nominated for recognition.

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"The most important bet will be to construct around the Memorial a living reality". It is one of the hopes that Daniele De Paz, President of the Jewish Community of Bologna, expressed at the inauguration of the city’s Holocaust Memorial, in January 2016. Installed in a recently built square, in a space adjacent to the high-speed railway station, it was designed by Onorato di Manno, Andrea Tanci, Gianluca Sist, Lorenzo Catena and Chiara Cucina, winners of an international competition whose jury was presided over by a renowned architect: Peter Eisenman, author of the famous Berlin Memorial. 
A project that, commented De Paz, “conveys emotion and energy”. A lot of people think so. The square, in fact, has become in the past five years a meeting and gathering place for many Bolognese citizens. Among the most frequent visitors a group of skaters, who have chosen it as the base for the expression of their creativity. A very good photographer, Massimiliano Martinelli, has immortalized their feats.

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

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A space divided in two. To enter and leave “restored, full of the desire to testify in life what you know and that must never happen again”. It is the theme of the artwork chosen among the many proposals for a new logo for the Shoah Museum Foundation in Rome dedicated to educational projects. A lively ideas contest which involved arts, technical, and trade high schools from all over Italy in the sign of a collaboration between the Foundation and the Ministry of Education.
The winning idea was Adrian Ungurianu’s, student at G. Cabot High School in Chiavari (Genoa). According to the commission, his logo was the most effective among the 140 artworks received. “We are very pleased”, states President of the Foundation Mario Venezia. “Our purpose has always been for young people to get concretely involved. This is a wide-ranging cultural operation, made of different projects and commitments. The idea is for the initiatives we suggest to lead to tangible outcomes. Let the facts speak for themselves”. 

Translated by Silvia Bozzo and revised by Antonella Losavio, 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.

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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 century eyes. Freedom for Europe will come if the Anglo-Americans, after they have freed themselves of the virus, come to the aid of a Europe that does not seem to recover after the two previous post-war periods.
By seeing the disbandment of Brussels, that classic Hazard book on the crisis of European consciousness came to my mind. The Red Army in the form of Sputnik vaccine presses from the East. After the everyone against everyone civil war Draghi leads a new Parri government. Without having a supportive CLN (National Liberation Committee) behind? Perhaps, it would be fairer to say that a European 8 September decreed the death of the young and never grown idea of European nation. At their expense, Israelis and Palestinians have always known that peace can never come with a non-existent Europe. 

*Historian
 
Translated by Oyebuchi Lucia Leonard and revised by Antonella Losavio, 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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By Giovanni Vigna*   

MANTUA, Italy — Linda Laura Sabbadini entered the field of statstics with an eye for change, and before long was known as a European pioneer of using the discipline to broaden gender studies research. It was likely with this contribution in mind that Sabbadini, now central director at ISTAT (the Italian Institute of Statistics), was appointed late last year to head up the W20 (Women 20), a G20 engagement group dedicated, as its name suggests, to women’s issues. The G20 summit, a meeting of heads of state and top government officials representing the world’s largest economies, will be held in Rome — Sabbadini’s hometown — this October.
Sabbadini comes highly credentialed. A researcher credited with over 100 scientific articles, she was included in Italy’s prestigious annual publication of top 100 most influential people in 2015. She has been working at ISTAT since 1983, and as central director she now specializes in dealing with women’s issues, individual well-being, poverty, discrimination, migrant issues, the environment, and eco-sustainability.
 
*This article was originally published in The Times of Israel on March 31, 2021.

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