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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:[br]"When I left Italy four months ago,

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"feeling more disgusted by the burden[br]of having to leave the country

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"than for the imminent danger,[br]many of my colleagues

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"and friends were quick[br]to express to me their discontent

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"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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From his father, my grandfather,[br]he had also received 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 the Slovenians.

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He had received this education,[br]and so he was an irredentist nationalist.

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Additionally, he was a genius official,[br]and so he felt like an Italian.

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He loved Italy[br]and he felt betrayed by this terrible law.

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In addition, in Hector's letters,[br]in this text, it also highlights

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a responsibility[br]by the Italian people themselves

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for that which is happening.

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He writes:[br]"The political maturity

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"of the Italian people[br]is apparently that of government rule

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"that it has and that it deserves."

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There is a precise responsibility[br]by the people.

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Well, the problem of the Italian people...[br](Laughter)

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is living, yes, is like saying...

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living today like yesterday.

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In other words,[br]the lack of personal responsibility

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and...not this...

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in this way...y..., accepting anything,[br]a leader or a guide,

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that which has[br]an...an...uglier appearance, if you will.

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And that...Trieste,[br]not coincidentally Mussolini

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and September 18, 1938,[br]where they were

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at the Unity of Italy Square[br]to present the Racial Laws

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not only because of[br]the nationalism that was there,

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but because Trieste was[br]a very multiethnic, multicultural city.

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There were more than two centuries[br]in which ethnic groups were diverse.

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They coexisted.

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But at the very moment [br]in which Mussolini was harsh towards Jews,

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who, I repeat, were profound Italians[br]and felt as such, and had also fought

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for Italy during the First World War,[br]at the point, everyone was inclined

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to accept the rule of fascism.

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We return to Hector and Adelina,[br]who, because of their decisions,

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leave the Second World War behind,[br]in which the persecution of Jews

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and the holocaust is about to start.

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They leave behind the errors of war,[br]however, like I said, they face a life

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that is not easy.

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Like we said,[br]Adelina was a lawyer with a great career.

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She finds herself having[br]to start her work up again.

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Yes, because the main difficulty was[br]a work shortage.

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There was an excess of workers[br](Laughter)

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from Tel Aviv.

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And then, there were few jobs[br]or they were completely insecure.

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Another big problem was[br]a housing shortage.

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So much so that my parents were forced[br]to live with a family in an apartment,

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with a kind of Polish family.

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And so the difficulty was, above all,[br]the work shortage.

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Also because the two small bags[br]of two thousand stars were not

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to be touched at all.[br]My father was not flexible.

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And so then my mom, in other words,[br]my mom, as long as my father remained

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in Tel Aviv until August 23, 1944,[br]when he then went to work

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at the British oil refinery... yes...[br]No, he also had my mom

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because then he had had my sister first[br]and then I was born in 1942.

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So then when my father left,[br]he felt the obligation to work

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to support the family[br]also because he liked the idea

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of having money...[br](Laughter)

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to freely spend.

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As mentioned, your mother was free...[br]- Yes, free.

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in Palestine.[br]- Yes.

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Your father, on the other hand,[br]had to move abroad to Persia

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because meanwhile he found work[br]with an oil company.

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So two lovers who find themselves[br]far apart in a foreign land,

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and the only point of contact[br]between these two people becomes

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the writing, the letters[br]that will then become so important

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for documentation, for their memories.[br]- Yes.

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In fact, if my father accepts[br]this two year contract

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with this Iranian company,[br]from Abadan and in Persia,

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he would do his work[br]as an industrial chemist

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in this precise military zone.

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He certainly separated from,[br]he left his wife, his children,

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in Tel Aviv.[br]Then, although very tired,

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every evening my mom wrote[br]and reported what had happened

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during her workday,[br]because she had found work

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with a company that was part[br]of the Tel Aviv pharmaceutical industry.

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After then being fired,[br]she went into a...into a house to iron...

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So, she could do anything.[br]And so she reported with great ability,

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descriptive, careful about everything[br]that went on during the day.

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Rather, my father sometimes wrote letters[br]with in depth description.

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He explained to her a bit about his duty,[br]weather problems because it was very hot,

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relationships with the British,[br]that local population that was

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in truly devastating conditions.[br]Okay so they were letters that,

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among other things... If you permit me...[br]- Sure.

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a digression... Things one absolutely knew[br]but I didn't even know

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the letters existed.

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Then perhaps we can also elaborate[br]on how they were found.

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Then also about how the decision[br]to publish them came about.

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Let's go back.[br]We had said that while Hector

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and Adelina were in Palestine,[br]their children were born.

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Yes, my sister...[br]- You were born

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and your sister Ana was born.

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It is fitting that the future[br]of these two children is often focused

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on in these letters that Hector[br]and Adelina exchange.

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I would like to read another[br]particularly significant passage

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that is again written by Hector[br]in Abadan in February 23, 1945:

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"If on one hand, the war tends[br]to be nearing its end, on the other,

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"for us, the situation in Palestine[br]is taking a favorable turn.

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"These days, I am overthinking[br]and continuously thinking

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"about the problem and worried,[br]not so much about our personal future,

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"but the future of our children.[br]I feel irresistibly carried towards

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"a solution that,[br]although never once explored,

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"today seems inevitable to me.[br]Perhaps in a year's time we will find

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"the need to have to return to Italy.[br]Then they will return

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"to being one hundred percent Italians."

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Probably if your father could have chosen,[br]he would have never...ah...wanted

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to return to Italy.

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Yes, I would have wanted to also.[br]Rather no, because of having been betrayed

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by Italy, my father deeply desired[br]to return to Italy.

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Apart from the experience in Abadan,[br]also because life in Palestine was truly

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very hard, very difficult because of[br]the work problem, the problem

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of the...of the...the lack of apartments.[br]However, we can't forget

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that the attention, the attention[br]by the Palestinian Arabs and the British

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made life particularly difficult.

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If we could return back in time...[br]- Yes.

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In September 1940,[br]Tel Aviv was bombed by Italian aircrafts,