WEBVTT 00:00:00.125 --> 00:15:50.743 People from Here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Welcome to People from Here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What we want to tell you today is the story of two young people, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of two young people with high hopes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is Adelina, a brilliant lawyer who works 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at a prestigious legal firm in Milan. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Then there is Hector, an industrial chemist. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The future can only smile at Adelina and Hector. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Actually, their future will be more turbulent 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 than they could have ever imagined. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The fact is, in 1938 Hector and Adelina are Jewish. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 On September 18th, in the town of Trieste, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Benito Mussolini announced Racial Laws for the first time, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the defense of the race. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The world of those two young people suddenly collapses under their feet. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We will tell this story of Hector and Adelina 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and about the eve of the day. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We will tell it with the son of Hector and Adelina, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Daniele Finzi, who in 2011, decided to donate his parents letters 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and documents to The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Shortly we will also discuss why this choice was made. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I would like to start precisely with September 1938, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with Mussolini's announcement of the laws for the defense of the race. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Hector and Adelina immediately started to understand that there was no future 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for them in that country. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To leave their country was a difficult decision, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but one that will save their lives. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, my father Hector Finzi had very deep historical knowledge. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Also because he knew German very well. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He had two aunts, aunt Genie and aunt Lazagudita Gentiluomo, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who both lived in Vienna. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He had followed all the Nazi antisemitism up to March 1938. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So when the race manifesto was published in July 1938, he didn't expect it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He knew what our limits were and he also hoped 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that Italy was perhaps a little different from Germany. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And my father, more than my mother, made quick and immediate decisions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He was also very intuitive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He had known my mom only a few month in 1938. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It was love at first sight and because of the race manifesto, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Racial Laws, they decided to get married. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They were married in Milan on December 1, 1938. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In 1938. We arrive in 1939. - Yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A manifest date for many. - Yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Very unjust, but there is a turning point. - There is a turning point. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Hector and Adelina decide to leave. Or rather, how do they depart? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because, in a way, they leave well informed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes and no. The problem is immediate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that of money. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because the White Paper of the British, a policy from maybe February 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or March of 1939, allowed a total of 75,000 Jews 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to enter Palestine for five years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But to qualify, every person needed to have 1,000 stars. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like we had said, they had chosen. The goal was Palestine. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The choice was not a coincidence, because my father had also thought 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of Latin America. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But the idea of going to Palestine was because it was nearby. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He also hoped his parents could join him. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In any case, the issue of money was really 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a huge problem because they didn't have money. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, thanks to the lawyer Gianni Morandi, who was the owner of the firm 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where my mom worked, they went to Zurich for their honeymoon. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Then they went to Lugano to gather clients for the lawyer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to put towards this large sum. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I still remember two leather bags with thousands of stars inside. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They were gold stars. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Okay, at this point, they reach Palestine. The State of Israel still didn't exist. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There wasn't any money to protect them. Therefore, they had to start from scratch? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, and so, they started all over again from January to April 1, 1939. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They arrived in Jaffa on April 6, 1939. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, because by 1922 the British controlled Palestine. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There were Palestinian Arabs. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Jewish Palestinians were organized by the Yishuv, who were more concerned 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the kibbutz and wanted to dedicate themselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to agriculture, etc. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But the harm, the political one, was directed by the Arab agency. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Arab agency was, well, I will give you an example. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Those who arrived in Tel Aviv on April 7th, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 were in school learning modern Hebrew twenty days after arriving, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because there were various Jews in Tel Aviv from every part of Europe. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so, it was necessary to learn this common language. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Therefore, there was some organization, but there were a lot of problems. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In any case, where I mentally find... - Ah, yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ...this small amount of protection. However, they had to start... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They had to restart. - ...from scratch. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 On the other hand, however, there were also a lot of comforts 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that were left behind by the fact of having to abandon... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 - Yes. ...Italy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Having to leave Italy was strenuous. - Yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In regard to this, I would also read an excerpt 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from the letters that may have been donated to the archive, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 diaries in which Hector specifies what he was feeling shortly after the time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at which he abandoned Italy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We will read from this excerpt: "When I left Italy four months ago, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "feeling more disgusted by the burden of having to leave the country 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "than for the imminent danger, many of my colleagues 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "and friends were quick to express to me their discontent 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "about what was happening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Through their conversations, I felt they knew what sympathy meant 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "and they only ended up withdrawing me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "They were whispered in room conversations solely because they knew me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "and thought highly of me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "For many, being an example against the persecution of Jews not being born 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "in Italy, could also be considered fair because it is understood that they came 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "to the country to make a fortune by going behind other's backs. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "They had some skilled political views. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "The fascist government's right to persecute people that it had let into 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "the country was generally recognized." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Okay, so Hector felt betrayed by Italy? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Without a doubt. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As I was saying prior, also because my father was from Trieste. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 From his father, my grandfather, he had also received an irredentist 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and nationalist education. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Trieste... - Of course. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ...had always been divided between people from Trieste 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 instead of irredentists, those who love Italy, Italian culture, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Italian language, like my grandfather and the Slovenians. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He had received this education, and so he was an irredentist nationalist. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Additionally, he was a genius official, and so he felt like an Italian. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He loved Italy and he felt betrayed by this terrible law. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In addition, in Hector's letters, in this text, it also highlights 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a responsibility by the Italian people themselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for that which is happening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He writes: "The political maturity 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "of the Italian people is apparently that of government rule 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "that it has and that it deserves." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is a precise responsibility by the people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well, the problem of the Italian people... (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is living, yes, is like saying... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 living today like yesterday. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In other words, the lack of personal responsibility 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and...not this... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this way...y..., accepting anything, a leader or a guide, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that which has an...an...uglier appearance, if you will. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that...Trieste, not coincidentally Mussolini 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and September 18, 1938, where they were 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the Unity of Italy Square to present the Racial Laws 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not only because of the nationalism that was there, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but because Trieste was a very multiethnic, multicultural city. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There were more than two centuries in which ethnic groups were diverse. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They coexisted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But at the very moment in which Mussolini was harsh towards Jews, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who, I repeat, were profound Italians and felt as such, and had also fought 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for Italy during the First World War, at the point, everyone was inclined 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to accept the rule of fascism. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We return to Hector and Adelina, who, because of their decisions, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 leave the Second World War behind, in which the persecution of Jews 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the holocaust is about to start. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They leave behind the errors of war, however, like I said, they face a life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that is not easy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like we said, Adelina was a lawyer with a great career. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 She finds herself having to start her work up again. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, because the main difficulty was a work shortage. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There was an excess of workers (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from Tel Aviv. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then, there were few jobs or they were completely insecure. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Another big problem was a housing shortage. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So much so that my parents were forced to live with a family in an apartment, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with a kind of Polish family. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so the difficulty was, above all, the work shortage. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Also because the two small bags of two thousand stars were not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be touched at all. My father was not flexible. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so then my mom, in other words, my mom, as long as my father remained 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in Tel Aviv until August 23, 1944, when he then went to work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the British oil refinery... yes... No, he also had my mom 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because then he had had my sister first and then I was born in 1942. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So then when my father left, he felt the obligation to work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to support the family also because he liked the idea 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of having money... (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to freely spend. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As mentioned, your mother was free... - Yes, free. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in Palestine. - Yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Your father, on the other hand, had to move abroad to Persia 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because meanwhile he found work with an oil company. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So two lovers who find themselves far apart in a foreign land, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the only point of contact between these two people becomes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the writing, the letters that will then become so important 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for documentation, for their memories. - Yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In fact, if my father accepts this two year contract 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with this Iranian company, from Abadan and in Persia, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he would do his work as an industrial chemist 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this precise military zone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He certainly separated from, he left his wife, his children, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in Tel Aviv. Then, although very tired, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 every evening my mom wrote and reported what had happened 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 during her workday, because she had found work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with a company that was part of the Tel Aviv pharmaceutical industry. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 After then being fired, she went into a...into a house to iron... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, she could do anything. And so she reported with great ability, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 descriptive, careful about everything that went on during the day. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Rather, my father sometimes wrote letters with in depth description. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He explained to her a bit about his duty, weather problems because it was very hot, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 relationships with the British, that local population that was 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in truly devastating conditions. Okay so they were letters that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 among other things... If you permit me... - Sure. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a digression... Things one absolutely knew but I didn't even know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the letters existed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Then perhaps we can also elaborate on how they were found. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Then also about how the decision to publish them came about. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let's go back. We had said that while Hector 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Adelina were in Palestine, their children were born. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, my sister... - You were born 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and your sister Ana was born. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is fitting that the future of these two children is often focused 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on in these letters that Hector and Adelina exchange. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I would like to read another particularly significant passage 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that is again written by Hector in Abadan in February 23, 1945: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "If on one hand, the war tends to be nearing its end, on the other, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "for us, the situation in Palestine is taking a favorable turn. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "These days, I am overthinking and continuously thinking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "about the problem and worried, not so much about our personal future, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "but the future of our children. I feel irresistibly carried towards 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "a solution that, although never prosperous, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "seems inevitable to me. Maybe within a year we will find 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "the need to have to return to Italy. From that moment on, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "they will be one hundred percent Italians