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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[br]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[br]smile 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, Daniele Finzi,

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who in 2011, decided to donate[br]his parents letters and documents

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to The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

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Shortly we will also discuss[br]why 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.[br]To leave their country was

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a difficult decision,[br]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 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[br]published in July 1938,

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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.[br]He had known my mom

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only a few month in 1938.[br]It was love at first sight

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and precisely because of[br]the race manifesto, the Racial Laws,

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they decided to get married.[br]They were married in Milan

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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]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[br]of the British, a policy

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

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to enter Palestine for five years.[br]But to qualify, every person needed

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to have one thousand 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.[br]But the idea of going

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to Palestine was because it was nearby.[br]He also hoped his parents could join him.

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In any case, the issue[br]of money was truly a huge problem,

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because they didn't have money.[br]So, thanks to the lawyer Gianni Morandi,

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who was the owner[br]of the firm where my mom worked,

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they went to Zurich for their honeymoon.[br]Then they went to Lugano

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to gather clients for the lawyer[br]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.[br]The Jewish Palestinians were organized

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by the <i>Yishuv</i>, who were more concerned[br]with the <i>kibbutz</i> and wanted

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to dedicate themselves[br]to agriculture, etc.

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But the true damage, the political one,[br]was directly from the Arab agency.

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I will give you an example.[br]Twenty days after those who arrived

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in Tel Aviv on April 7th,[br]they were in school learning modern Hebrew

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

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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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Nevertheless, where I mentally find...[br]- Ah, yes.

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...this small amount of protection.[br]In any case, 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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Regarding this, I would also read an excerpt[br]from the letters that may have been

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donated to the archive, [br]diaries from which Hector specifically

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describes what he is feeling at the time[br]in which he recently abandons Italy.