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People from Here

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Welcome to People from Here.

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What we want to tell you today[br]is the story of two young people,

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of two young people with high hopes.

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There is Adelina,[br]a brilliant lawyer who works

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at a prestigious legal firm in Milan.

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Then there is Hector,[br]an industrial chemist.

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The future can only smile[br]at Adelina and Hector.

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Actually,[br]their future will be more turbulent

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than they could have ever imagined.

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The fact is,[br]in 1938 Hector and Adelina are Jewish.

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On September 18th,[br]in the town of Trieste,

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Benito Mussolini announced Racial Laws[br]for the first time,

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for the defense of the race.

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The world of those two young people[br]suddenly collapses under their feet.

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We will tell this story[br]of Hector and Adelina

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and about the eve of the day.

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We will tell it with the son[br]of Hector and Adelina,

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Daniele Finzi, who in 2011, decided[br]to donate his parents letters

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and documents[br]to The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

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Shortly we will also discuss why[br]this choice was made.

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I would like to start precisely[br]with September 1938,

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with Mussolini's announcement[br]of the laws for the defense of the race.

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Hector and Adelina immediately started[br]to understand that there was no future

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for them in that country.

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To leave their country was[br]a difficult decision,

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but one that will save their lives.

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Yes, my father Hector Finzi had[br]very deep historical knowledge.

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Also because he knew German very well.

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He had two aunts, aunt Genie[br]and aunt Lazagudita Gentiluomo,

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who both lived in Vienna.

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He had followed all[br]the Nazi antisemitism up to March 1938.

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So when the race manifesto was published[br]in July 1938, he didn't expect it.

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He knew what our limits were[br]and he also hoped

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that Italy was perhaps[br]a little different from Germany.

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And my father, more than my mother,[br]made quick and immediate decisions.

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He was also very intuitive.

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He had known my mom only[br]a few month in 1938.

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It was love at first sight[br]and because of the race manifesto,

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the Racial Laws,[br]they decided to get married.

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They were married in Milan[br]on December 1, 1938.

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In 1938. We arrive in 1939.[br]- Yes.

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A manifest date for many.[br]- Yes.

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Very unjust, but there is a turning point.[br]- There is a turning point.

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Hector and Adelina decide to leave.[br]Or rather, how do they depart?

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Because, in a way,[br]they leave well informed.

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Yes and no.[br]The problem is immediate

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and that of money.

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Because the White Paper of the British,[br]a policy from maybe February

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or March of 1939, [br]allowed a total of 75,000 Jews

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to enter Palestine for five years.

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But to qualify, [br]every person needed to have 1,000 stars.

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Like we had said, they had chosen.[br]The goal was Palestine.

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The choice was not a coincidence,[br]because my father had also thought

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of Latin America.

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But the idea of going [br]to Palestine was because it was nearby.

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He also hoped his parents could join him.

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In any case, [br]the issue of money was really

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a huge problem[br]because they didn't have money.

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So, thanks to the lawyer Gianni Morandi,[br]who was the owner of the firm

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where my mom worked,[br]they went to Zurich for their honeymoon.

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Then they went to Lugano[br]to gather clients for the lawyer

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to put towards this large sum.

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I still remember two leather bags[br]with thousands of stars inside.

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They were gold stars.

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Okay, at this point, they reach Palestine.[br]The State of Israel still didn't exist.

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There wasn't any money to protect them.[br]Therefore, they had to start from scratch?

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Yes, and so, they started all over again[br]from January to April 1, 1939.

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They arrived in Jaffa on April 6, 1939.

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Yes, because by 1922[br]the British controlled Palestine.

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There were Palestinian Arabs.

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The Jewish Palestinians were organized[br]by the <i>Yishuv</i>, who were more concerned

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with the <i>kibbutz</i> and wanted[br]to dedicate themselves

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to agriculture, etc.

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But the harm, the political one,[br]was directed by the Arab agency.

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The Arab agency was, well,[br]I will give you an example.

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Those who arrived[br]in Tel Aviv on April 7th,

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were in school learning modern Hebrew[br]twenty days after arriving,

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because there were various Jews[br]in Tel Aviv from every part of Europe.

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And so, it was necessary[br]to learn this common language.

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Therefore, there was some organization,[br]but there were a lot of problems.

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In any case, where I mentally find...[br]- Ah, yes.

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...this small amount of protection.[br]However, they had to start...

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They had to restart.[br]- ...from scratch.

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On the other hand, however,[br]there were also a lot of comforts

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that were left behind by the fact[br]of having to abandon...

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- Yes.[br]...Italy.

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Having to leave Italy was strenuous.[br]- Yes.

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In regard to this,[br]I would also read an excerpt

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from the letters[br]that may have been donated to the archive,

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diaries in which Hector specifies[br]what he was feeling shortly after the time

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at which he abandoned Italy.

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We will read from this excerpt:

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"When I left Italy four months ago,[br]feeling more disgusted by the burden

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"of having to leave the country[br]than for the imminent danger,

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"many of my colleagues[br]and friends were quick

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"to express to me their discontent[br]about what was happening.

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"Through their conversations,[br]I felt they knew what sympathy meant

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"and they only ended up withdrawing me.[br]

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"They were whispered in room conversations[br]solely because they knew me

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"and thought highly of me.

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"For many, being an example against[br]the persecution of Jews not being born

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"in Italy, could also be considered fair[br]because it is understood that they came

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"to the country to make a fortune[br]by going behind other's backs.

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"They had some skilled political views.

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"The fascist government's right[br]to persecute people that it had let into

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"the country was generally recognized."

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Okay, so Hector felt betrayed by Italy?

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Without a doubt.

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As I was saying prior,[br]also because my father was from Trieste.

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He had gotten from his father, [br]my grandfather, an irredentist

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and nationalist education.

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Trieste...[br]- Of course.

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...had always been divided[br]between people from Trieste

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instead of irredentists,[br]those who love Italy, Italian culture,

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Italian language,[br]like my grandfather and Slovenians.