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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, it's 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 extensive 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 tangent... 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]from 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, Tel Aviv was bombed[br]by Italian planes, no?...

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Yes.[br]- They bombed Tel Aviv and it seems

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like there were one hundred[br]and fifty two deaths.

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So life was very hard.[br]Another tangent...uh... In other words,

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one of the big problems was also food.

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For example, myself sister and I went[br]to the <i>gan</i>, which was like kindergarten.

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To help you understand, at lunch they used[br]to give us half an egg to eat.

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On the other hand,[br]while you all faced this situation,

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the hope of returning[br]to Italy continuously remained.

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And how did Adelina live[br]with the hope of returning?

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I will read...[br]- Yes.

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...another passage that is significant:[br]"I will never ask myself

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"to take that step.[br]Here I feel undoubtedly hesitant

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"by instinct and by force of tradition.[br]And I won't ever ask myself not only out

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"of obedience, [br]but because more than anything else,

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"I am concerned[br]about doing everything possible

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"for the future of our children."

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It's like saying,[br]she was also willing to do her part.

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There was a sense of pride[br]to return to Italy, that country

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that had dismissed them[br]in order to then guarantee

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a future for you children.

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Then here there is a...[br](Laughter)

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There are many letters.[br]In any case, when my father says

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that they will be[br]one hundred percent Italians,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he also proposes to my mom[br]the idea of converting to Catholicism,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because we were Jews.[br]- Of course.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then, while the Finzis[br]of Trieste were assimilated

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
almost completely...[br]In other words,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they went to the temple twice a year.[br]Instead, my mom was from

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a much more orthodox family.[br]They came from the Parrdo,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a very important Iberian family.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Parrdo which was Prado then.[br]They came from Spain after the expulsion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So my father proposes this idea[br]of converting to Catholicism

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in order for his children...[br]- To become...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes, to become totally Italians[br]even as a religion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
However my mom... Here it says[br]that she was reluctant.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Not because she was personally orthodox.[br]But because, in that moment when

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it was known what was happening[br]in Europe, the extermination camps

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or also a difficult situation,[br]they absolutely didn't know

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where my paternal[br]and maternal grandparents were.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, however, the news arrived[br]even betraying the origin... In short...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It was quite heavy.[br]- Very heavy.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
By the way, meanwhile how did the news[br]about the war circulate in Europe?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Was there just an awareness[br]of what was happening?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Was there an awareness[br]of the extermination camps?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes.[br]- Most of all, also how did they live

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with these duplicate feelings?[br]Because, on the one hand,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there was this hope[br]of being able to return one day

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to a normal life in Italy.[br]On the other hand, however,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there was a lot of love[br]also for the fate of loved ones.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They knew everything.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Both about the Jewish institution[br]and the British.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The news arrived quite detailed.[br]I don't want to forget a noteworthy group

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of young Jews that were part[br]of the Jewish brigade.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They fought alongside the British[br]and they also fought in Italy,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in all of Europe.[br]It was them that said the news offered

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
details about what was taking place.[br]So they knew about everything

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
about what was coming[br]to Italy and Europe.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The concerns were precisely[br]that my paternal grandparents,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
those who then were moved from Auschwitz,[br]they did not...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The last official news was transmitted[br]by a type of telegram by the Red Cross

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in July of 1943.[br]Then my father knew absolutely nothing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
My mom didn't know.[br]She knew that her parents were hidden.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Her brother was in Switzerland.[br]But they had absolutely no news.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They couldn't say or write anything[br]because the mail was altered.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Outgoing and incoming mail was altered.[br]I found that at least some details

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the letters had been deleted precisely[br]by the person that did the alterations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So my father needed to be careful[br]because they were altered by the British.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They were altered by the Persians.[br]Then they were altered on arrival

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in Palestine.[br]So they were...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In this situation,[br]they also found themselves in a state

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of uncertainty being far from Europe,[br]far from what was happening in Europe,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
far from the war.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For the moment, Adelina perhaps had hoped[br]that her family would be privileged

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the immense tragedy[br]that afflicted the Jews of Europe,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that they would all find themselves[br]reunited upon their return.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There was almost this illusion, this hope.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hope is often the last idea.[br]Hence, there was hope.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They didn't have detailed news.[br]My father's brother was a doctor

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who lived in Bologna[br]in the mountains of Monghidoro.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He knew[br]that his parents had been arrested,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that they had been deported.[br]However, he had not communicated anything.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then, even though...[br]There could have always been

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the hope of return by being in Aushwitz.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Therefore, they hoped, they hoped.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Unfortunately, however,[br]the terrible news arrived.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They also arrived in Palestine while[br]the war...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It was over.[br]- It was already over.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And like you said,[br]the terrible news arrived by mail.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
News so terrible[br]that Adelina cannot even transcribe them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in a letter to Hector.[br]She writes:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"My dear, unfortunately,[br]the dreary news has arrived.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"I am sending you the letter[br]because I don't have the courage

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"to write to you[br]about it with my own pen."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's terrible.[br]Unfortunately, they were effects

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of what had just happened[br]in the war in Europe.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In a communication letter separate[br]from the international cross.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Maybe in that exact moment Hector[br]and Adelina understood

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what they had escaped from?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes without a doubt.[br]I will also tell you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that when my father had[br]the idea of going to Palestine,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
everyone criticized him;[br]friends, parents, brothers, the sister,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because they said[br]he was always pessimistic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He would rather have wanted them all[br]to also come with him.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
However, he expected it, also because[br]the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The news gets to him in August.[br]Given that months go by

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where he doesn't receive positive news,[br]he feared for the lives of his parents.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Excuse me but if you permit me.[br]- Of course.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But before the communication[br]about the deaths of his parents,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he received communication from Sweden[br]that said his sister was saved.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then my aunt Yolanda Clara was part[br]of that group of prisoners

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that were moved[br]from Auschwitz in December 1944.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They were moved west[br]so as not to leave a mass

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of prisoners in Auschwitz,[br]because the Red Army was coming.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She was then liberated[br]in the north of Ravensbrück in April 1945.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She was then transferred[br]to Sweden to recover.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We have said that at this point,[br]the war ended and Hector and Adelina

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
along with their children decide[br]to return to Italy.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
How difficult was it once again to start[br]from scratch because they actually had

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to start from scratch.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Ah yes.[br]It was difficult.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
My father's brother,[br]who had worked in Sansepolcro,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
helped him get a job at his work.[br]He spoke with Mr. Marco Vittoni

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he said he was quite willing[br]to hire his brother because he was

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a chemist.[br]Mr. Vittoni wanted a change of pace

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for his company.[br]But when we arrived in Italy in May 1946,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with a short stop in Bologna[br]and then to Parma at the home

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of my maternal grandparents,[br]and then to Sansepolcro precisely

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in November of 1946,[br]we had absolutely nothing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And there was nothing...[br](Laughter)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Without a doubt, a country in devastation.[br]- Yes a country in devastation.