January 3, 2024 - 22 Tevet 5784

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE

New stumbling stones to be placed in Rome
Adachiara Zevi condemns political appropriations

In January 2010, Rome was the first Italian city to welcome the Stolpersteine, the “stumbling stones” created by German artist Gunter Demnig to commemorate the victims of nazi-fascist persecution from where they were arrested or deported to extermination camps. These cobblestones, embedded in the pavement, now number in the thousands across Italy. In January, in the days leading up to Holocaust Remembrance Day on the 27th, their number is set to increase. “It was an insightful idea and has set a trend” said to Pagine Ebraiche art historian Adachiara Zevi, president of Art in Memory, the association that first brought Demnig’s message to Italy.
New Stolpersteine will be soon laid in Rome, marking the 15th consecutive year of this tradition. The first ceremony takes place on January 8 in the heart of the Jewish quarter, in via Santa Maria del Pianto. In the following days, more blocks will be posited across the city. 

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE/THE PROJECT

100,000 Stolpersteine combat hatred across Europe

When asked about his Stolpersteine, the stumbling stones scattered throughout Europe, the German artist Gunter Demnig quotes the Talmud: "A person is not forgotten until his name is". For over thirty years now, he has been committed to commemorate individuals at the last place of residency before being deported, persecuted, and forced to leave by Nazi extermination or persecution. To do so, he has embedded his brass cobblestones, cubes sized 10 cm (3.9 in.) on the sidewalks of hundreds of cities.
They are mostly placed at the building front door, and each bears a brass plate inscribed with the victim's name and life dates. Last year, Demnig posited his 100,000th stumbling block, a milestone as tragic as it is significant for this remembrance project involving about 28 countries. Stolpersteine not only symbolize the ideal burial place for those who were denied it but deepens our knowledge about that tragic time. Each project is accompanied by research about the victims’ life and is thus an opportunity to reconstruct their identity, story, and family ties.

Above: stumbling stones  in Florence.

CULTURE

Ferrara honors unconventional poetess Bemporad

Both a poetess and a translator, Giovanna Bemporad is a cornerstone of the Italian culture in the 20th century. A hundred years after her birth and a decade since her passing, this brilliant and unconventional; figure, who miraculously survived anti-Jewish persecutions, is making a comeback.
Her hometown, Ferrara, honored her with a place of her own: a square in the Nuova Darsena (The New Dock), a recently revitalized area along the Burano Canal. “It is a place between land and sea, poetic par excellence, a place for gatherings and exchange, especially for younger generations,” explained Ferrara’s mayor Alan Fabbri. It is also, he said, “close to the MEIS, the Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah, so that Giovanna Bemporad’s origins may be honored.”
 
Photo: Municipality of Ferrara 

Translated by Francesca Pischedda and revised by Annadora Zuanel, students at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities – Pagine Ebraiche.

Read more

ARCHITECTURE

Italian synagogues illuminate national history
A course with architect Andrea Morpurgo

For centuries synagogues have been a defining mark of Italian cities fabric. They may be monumental as those built during the Emancipation era or occult as those going back to the period of ghettos, when the constant menace of forced conversion invited more discrete forms of worship. In both cases, entering these spaces and studying their architecture is an excellent way to explore a unique perspective on Jewish and Italian history. Italian synagogues’ architecture is the focus of the new course by the Universitary diploma in Jewish Studies “Renzo Gattegna”. Titled Architettura sinagogale (Synagogual Architecture), it is curated by the architect and architecture historian Andrea Morpurgo and will begin on Wedsneday 1/11. Through 15 lessons, the course will delve in the extraordinary meaning of spaces from where, as Morpurgo put it, “history talk to us”.

Above: the synagogue of Casale Monferrato.

Read more
ITALICS

Academia in Italy is targeting Israel - opinion

By Emanuele Dalla Torre*

A recent wave of controversy has swept across Italian academic circles following the emergence of a petition calling for a boycott of Israeli academic and research institutions. The petition, triggered by the alleged crimes of the “illegal colonial occupation of Palestinian territories,” and a “Gaza siege,” has seen a huge increase in support since its inception in 2016. However, this increase is matched by a growing wave of opposition, highlighting the complexity and importance of the issue.
  
 *This article was originally published on Los Angeles Times on The Jerusalem Post on November 30, 2023.

Read more

Join us on Facebook! 

In addition to our social media in Italian, Pagine Ebraiche International recently launched its new profile on Facebook. On our page, we share news, photos, and updates. Please take a moment and visit it, and once there, click “Like” or “Follow”. We look forward to bring you great information and connect with you.
We encourage you to comment, ask us questions, or share the content with your friends, family, and co-workers. Join us on Facebook
The editors of this newsletter are native Italian-speaking journalists. The reader may find errors and imperfections in the use of language. We count on your help to improve.
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 comunicazione@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  comunicazione@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. Unione Informa - Reg Rome Court 199/2009 – Editor in Chief: Daniel Mosseri.
Pagine Ebraiche International is edited by Daniela Gross.

I redattori di questo notiziario sono giornalisti italiani di madrelingua italiana. Il lettore potrebbe trovare errori e imperfezioni nell'utilizzo del linguaggio. Contiamo sul vostro aiuto per 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  comunicazione@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: comunicazione@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 - Unione Informa - Reg. Tribunale di Roma 199/2009 - direttore responsabile: Daniel Mosseri.
Pagine Ebraiche International è a cura di Daniela Gross.
Twitter
Facebook
Website