1
00:00:00,125 --> 00:15:50,743
People from Here

2
00:23:29,488 --> 99:59:59,999
Welcome back to People from Here.

3
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
What we want to tell you today
is the story of two young people,

4
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of two young people with high hopes.
On the one hand, there is Adelina,

5
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a brilliant lawyer who works
at a prestigious legal firm in Milan.

6
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then there is Ettore,
an industrial chemist.

7
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The future can only smile
upon Adelina and Ettore.

8
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Actually,
their future will be more turbulent

9
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
than they could have ever imagined.
The fact is,

10
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in 1938 Ettore and Adelina are Jewish.
On September 18th,

11
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
from the balcony of Trieste's town hall,
Benito Mussolini announced Racial Laws

12
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for the first time
for the defense of the race.

13
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The world of those two young people
suddenly collapses under their feet.

14
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We will tell this story
of Ettore and Adelina

15
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and the eve of the day.
We will tell it with the son

16
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of Ettore and Adelina,
Daniele Finzi, who in 2011,

17
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
decided to donate his parents letters
and documents

18
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.
Shortly we will also discuss why

19
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
this choice was made.
Now I would like to start precisely

20
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with September 1938,
with Mussolini's announcement

21
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of the laws for the defense of the race.
Ettore and Adelina immediately started

22
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to understand that there was no future
for them in that country.

23
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
To leave their country was
a difficult decision,

24
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but one that will save their lives.

25
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, my father Ettore Finzi was
very knowledgable about history.

26
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Also because he knew German very well.
He had two aunts, aunt Genie

27
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and aunt Lazigudita Gentiluomo,
who both lived in Vienna.

28
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He had followed all
the Nazi antisemitism up to March 1938.

29
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So when the Race Manifesto was published
in July 1938, he didn't expect it.

30
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He knew what we were in for
and he also hoped

31
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that Italy was perhaps
a little different from Germany.

32
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And my father, more than my mother,
made quick and immediate decisions.

33
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He was also very intuitive.
He had known my mom only

34
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a few months, and he returns
to these months of April 1938.

35
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It was love at first sight
and because of the Race Manifesto,

36
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the Racial Laws,
they decided to get married.

37
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They were married in Milan
on December 1, 1938.

38
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In 1938. We arrive in 1939.
- Yes.

39
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
A manifest date for many.
- Yes.

40
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Very unjust, but there is a turning point.
- There is a turning point.

41
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Hector and Adelina decide to leave.
Or rather, how do they depart?

42
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Because, in a way,
they leave well informed.

43
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes and no.
The problem is immediate

44
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and that of money.

45
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Because the White Paper of the British,
a policy from maybe February

46
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
or March of 1939, 
allowed a total of 75,000 Jews

47
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to enter Palestine for five years.

48
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But to qualify, 
every person needed to have 1,000 stars.

49
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Like we had said, they had chosen.
The goal was Palestine.

50
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The choice was not a coincidence,
because my father had also thought

51
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of Latin America.

52
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But the idea of going 
to Palestine was because it was nearby.

53
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He also hoped his parents could join him.

54
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In any case, 
the issue of money was really

55
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a huge problem
because they didn't have money.

56
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, thanks to the lawyer Gianni Morandi,
who was the owner of the firm

57
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
where my mom worked,
they went to Zurich for their honeymoon.

58
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then they went to Lugano
to gather clients for the lawyer

59
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to put towards this large sum.

60
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I still remember two leather bags
with thousands of stars inside.

61
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They were gold stars.

62
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Okay, at this point, they reach Palestine.
The State of Israel still didn't exist.

63
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There wasn't any money to protect them.
Therefore, they had to start from scratch?

64
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, and so, they started all over again
from January to April 1, 1939.

65
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They arrived in Jaffa on April 6, 1939.

66
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, because by 1922
the British controlled Palestine.

67
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There were Palestinian Arabs.

68
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The Jewish Palestinians were organized
by the <i>Yishuv</i>, who were more concerned

69
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with the <i>kibbutz</i> and wanted
to dedicate themselves

70
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to agriculture, etc.

71
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But the harm, the political one,
was directed by the Arab agency.

72
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The Arab agency was, well,
I will give you an example.

73
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Those who arrived
in Tel Aviv on April 7th,

74
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
were in school learning modern Hebrew
twenty days after arriving,

75
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because there were various Jews
in Tel Aviv from every part of Europe.

76
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And so, it was necessary
to learn this common language.

77
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Therefore, there was some organization,
but there were a lot of problems.

78
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In any case, where I mentally find...
- Ah, yes.

79
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
...this small amount of protection.
However, they had to start...

80
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They had to restart.
- ...from scratch.

81
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
On the other hand, however,
there were also a lot of comforts

82
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that were left behind by the fact
of having to abandon...

83
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
- Yes.
...Italy.

84
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Having to leave Italy was strenuous.
- Yes.

85
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In regard to this,
I would also read an excerpt

86
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
from the letters
that may have been donated to the archive,

87
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
diaries in which Hector specifies
what he was feeling shortly after the time

88
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
at which he abandoned Italy.

89
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We will read from this excerpt:
"When I left Italy four months ago,

90
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"feeling more disgusted by the burden
of having to leave the country

91
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"than for the imminent danger,
many of my colleagues

92
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"and friends were quick
to express to me their discontent

93
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"about what was happening.

94
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Through their conversations,
I felt they knew what sympathy meant

95
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"and they only ended up withdrawing me.


96
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"They were whispered in room conversations
solely because they knew me

97
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"and thought highly of me.

98
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"For many, being an example against
the persecution of Jews not being born

99
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"in Italy, could also be considered fair
because it is understood that they came

100
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"to the country to make a fortune
by going behind other's backs.

101
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"They had some skilled political views.

102
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"The fascist government's right
to persecute people that it had let into

103
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"the country was generally recognized."

104
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Okay, so Hector felt betrayed by Italy?

105
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Without a doubt.

106
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
As I was saying prior,
also because my father was from Trieste.

107
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
From his father, my grandfather,
he had also received an irredentist

108
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and nationalist education.

109
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Trieste...
- Of course.

110
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
...had always been divided
between people from Trieste

111
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
instead of irredentists,
those who love Italy, Italian culture,

112
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Italian language,
like my grandfather and the Slovenians.

113
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He had received this education,
and so he was an irredentist nationalist.

114
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Additionally, he was a genius official,
and so he felt like an Italian.

115
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He loved Italy
and he felt betrayed by this terrible law.

116
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In addition, in Hector's letters,
in this text, it also highlights

117
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a responsibility
by the Italian people themselves

118
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for that which is happening.

119
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He writes:
"The political maturity

120
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"of the Italian people
is apparently that of government rule

121
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"that it has and that it deserves."

122
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There is a precise responsibility
by the people.

123
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Well, the problem of the Italian people...
(Laughter)

124
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is living, yes, it's like saying...

125
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
living today like yesterday.

126
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In other words,
the lack of personal responsibility

127
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and...not this...

128
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in this way...y..., accepting anything,
a leader or a guide,

129
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that which has
an...an...uglier appearance, if you will.

130
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And that...Trieste,
not coincidentally Mussolini

131
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and September 18, 1938,
where they were

132
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
at the Unity of Italy Square
to present the Racial Laws

133
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
not only because of
the nationalism that was there,

134
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but because Trieste was
a very multiethnic, multicultural city.

135
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There were more than two centuries
in which ethnic groups were diverse.

136
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They coexisted.

137
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But at the very moment 
in which Mussolini was harsh towards Jews,

138
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
who, I repeat, were profound Italians
and felt as such, and had also fought

139
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for Italy during the First World War,
at the point, everyone was inclined

140
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to accept the rule of fascism.

141
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We return to Hector and Adelina,
who, because of their decisions,

142
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
leave the Second World War behind,
in which the persecution of Jews

143
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and the holocaust is about to start.

144
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They leave behind the errors of war,
however, like I said, they face a life

145
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that is not easy.

146
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Like we said,
Adelina was a lawyer with a great career.

147
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
She finds herself having
to start her work up again.

148
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, because the main difficulty was
a work shortage.

149
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There was an excess of workers
(Laughter)

150
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
from Tel Aviv.

151
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And then, there were few jobs
or they were completely insecure.

152
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Another big problem was
a housing shortage.

153
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So much so that my parents were forced
to live with a family in an apartment,

154
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with a kind of Polish family.

155
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And so the difficulty was, above all,
the work shortage.

156
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Also because the two small bags
of two thousand stars were not

157
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to be touched at all.
My father was not flexible.

158
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And so then my mom, in other words,
my mom, as long as my father remained

159
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in Tel Aviv until August 23, 1944,
when he then went to work

160
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
at the British oil refinery... yes...
No, he also had my mom

161
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because then he had had my sister first
and then I was born in 1942.

162
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So then when my father left,
he felt the obligation to work

163
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to support the family
also because he liked the idea

164
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of having money...
(Laughter)

165
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to freely spend.

166
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
As mentioned, your mother was free...
- Yes, free.

167
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in Palestine.
- Yes.

168
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Your father, on the other hand,
had to move abroad to Persia

169
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because meanwhile he found work
with an oil company.

170
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So two lovers who find themselves
far apart in a foreign land,

171
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and the only point of contact
between these two people becomes

172
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the writing, the letters
that will then become so important

173
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for documentation, for their memories.
- Yes.

174
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In fact, if my father accepts
this two year contract

175
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with this Iranian company,
from Abadan and in Persia,

176
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he would do his work
as an industrial chemist

177
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in this precise military zone.

178
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He certainly separated from,
he left his wife, his children,

179
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in Tel Aviv.
Then, although very tired,

180
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
every evening my mom wrote
and reported what had happened

181
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
during her workday,
because she had found work

182
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with a company that was part
of the Tel Aviv pharmaceutical industry.

183
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
After then being fired,
she went into a...into a house to iron...

184
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, she could do anything.
And so she reported with great ability,

185
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
descriptive, careful about everything
that went on during the day.

186
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Rather, my father sometimes wrote letters
with extensive description.

187
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He explained to her a bit about his duty,
weather problems because it was very hot,

188
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
relationships with the British,
that local population that was

189
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in truly devastating conditions.
Okay so they were letters that,

190
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
among other things... If you permit me...
- Sure.

191
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a tangent... Things one absolutely knew
but I didn't even know

192
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the letters existed.

193
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then perhaps we can also elaborate
on how they were found.

194
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then also about how the decision
to publish them came about.

195
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Let's go back.
We had said that while Hector

196
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and Adelina were in Palestine,
their children were born.

197
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, my sister...
- You were born

198
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and your sister Ana was born.

199
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It is fitting that the future
of these two children is often focused

200
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
on in these letters that Hector
and Adelina exchange.

201
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I would like to read another
particularly significant passage

202
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that is again written by Hector
in Abadan in February 23, 1945:

203
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"If on one hand, the war tends
to be nearing its end, on the other,

204
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"for us, the situation in Palestine
is taking a favorable turn.

205
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"These days, I am overthinking
and continuously thinking

206
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"about the problem and worried,
not so much about our personal future,

207
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"but the future of our children.
I feel irresistibly carried towards

208
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"a solution that,
although never once explored,

209
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"today seems inevitable to me.
Perhaps in a year's time we will find

210
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"the need to have to return to Italy.
Then they will return

211
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"to being one hundred percent Italians."

212
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Probably if your father could have chosen,
he would have never...ah...wanted

213
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to return to Italy.

214
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, I would have wanted to also.
Rather no, because of having been betrayed

215
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
by Italy, my father deeply desired
to return to Italy.

216
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Apart from the experience in Abadan,
also because life in Palestine was truly

217
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
very hard, very difficult because of
the work problem, the problem

218
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of the...of the...the lack of apartments.
However, we can't forget

219
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that the attention, the attention
from the Palestinian Arabs and the British

220
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
made life particularly difficult.

221
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
If we could return back in time...
- Yes.

222
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In September 1940, Tel Aviv was bombed
by Italian planes, no?...

223
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes.
- They bombed Tel Aviv and it seems

224
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
like there were one hundred
and fifty two deaths.

225
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So life was very hard.
Another tangent...uh... In other words,

226
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
one of the big problems was also food.

227
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
For example, myself sister and I went
to the <i>gan</i>, which was like kindergarten.

228
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
To help you understand, at lunch they used
to give us half an egg to eat.

229
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
On the other hand,
while you all faced this situation,

230
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the hope of returning
to Italy continuously remained.

231
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And how did Adelina live
with the hope of returning?

232
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I will read...
- Yes.

233
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
...another passage that is significant:
"I will never ask myself

234
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"to take that step.
Here I feel undoubtedly hesitant

235
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"by instinct and by force of tradition.
And I won't ever ask myself not only out

236
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"of obedience, 
but because more than anything else,

237
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I am concerned
about doing everything possible

238
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"for the future of our children."

239
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It's like saying,
she was also willing to do her part.

240
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There was a sense of pride
to return to Italy, that country

241
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that had dismissed them
in order to then guarantee

242
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a future for you children.

243
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then here there is a...
(Laughter)

244
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There are many letters.
In any case, when my father says

245
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that they will be
one hundred percent Italians,

246
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he also proposes to my mom
the idea of converting to Catholicism,

247
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because we were Jews.
- Of course.

248
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then, while the Finzis
of Trieste were assimilated

249
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
almost completely...
In other words,

250
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
they went to the temple twice a year.
Instead, my mom was from

251
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a much more orthodox family.
They came from the Parrdo,

252
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a very important Iberian family.

253
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Parrdo which was Prado then.
They came from Spain after the expulsion.

254
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So my father proposes this idea
of converting to Catholicism

255
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in order for his children...
- To become...

256
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, to become totally Italians
even as a religion.

257
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
However my mom... Here it says
that she was reluctant.

258
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Not because she was personally orthodox.
But because, in that moment when

259
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it was known what was happening
in Europe, the extermination camps

260
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
or also a difficult situation,
they absolutely didn't know

261
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
where my paternal
and maternal grandparents were.

262
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, however, the news arrived
even betraying the origin... In short...

263
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It was quite heavy.
- Very heavy.

264
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
By the way, meanwhile how did the news
about the war circulate in Europe?

265
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Was there just an awareness
of what was happening?

266
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Was there an awareness
of the extermination camps?

267
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes.
- Most of all, also how did they live

268
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with these duplicate feelings?
Because, on the one hand,

269
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
there was this hope
of being able to return one day

270
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to a normal life in Italy.
On the other hand, however,

271
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
there was a lot of love
also for the fate of loved ones.

272
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They knew everything.

273
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Both about the Jewish institution
and the British.

274
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The news arrived quite detailed.
I don't want to forget a noteworthy group

275
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of young Jews that were part
of the Jewish brigade.

276
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They fought alongside the British
and they also fought in Italy,

277
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in all of Europe.
It was them that said the news offered

278
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
details about what was taking place.
So they knew about everything

279
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
about what was coming
to Italy and Europe.

280
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The concerns were precisely
that my paternal grandparents,

281
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
those who then were moved from Auschwitz,
they did not...

282
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The last official news was transmitted
by a type of telegram by the Red Cross

283
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in July of 1943.
Then my father knew absolutely nothing.

284
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
My mom didn't know.
She knew that her parents were hidden.

285
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Her brother was in Switzerland.
But they had absolutely no news.

286
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They couldn't say or write anything
because the mail was altered.

287
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Outgoing and incoming mail was altered.
I found that at least some details

288
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in the letters had been deleted precisely
by the person that did the alterations.

289
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So my father needed to be careful
because they were altered by the British.

290
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They were altered by the Persians.
Then they were altered on arrival

291
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in Palestine.
So they were...

292
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In this situation,
they also found themselves in a state

293
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of uncertainty being far from Europe,
far from what was happening in Europe,

294
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
far from the war.

295
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
For the moment, Adelina perhaps had hoped
that her family would be privileged

296
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in the immense tragedy
that afflicted the Jews of Europe,

297
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that they would all find themselves
reunited upon their return.

298
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There was almost this illusion, this hope.

299
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Hope is often the last idea.
Hence, there was hope.

300
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They didn't have detailed news.
My father's brother was a doctor

301
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
who lived in Bologna
in the mountains of Monghidoro.

302
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He knew
that his parents had been arrested,

303
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that they had been deported.
However, he had not communicated anything.

304
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then, even though...
There could have always been

305
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the hope of return by being in Aushwitz.

306
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Therefore, they hoped, they hoped.

307
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Unfortunately, however,
the terrible news arrived.

308
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They also arrived in Palestine while
the war...

309
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It was over.
- It was already over.

310
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And like you said,
the terrible news arrived by mail.

311
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
News so terrible
that Adelina cannot even transcribe them

312
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in a letter to Hector.
She writes:

313
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"My dear, unfortunately,
the dreary news has arrived.

314
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I am sending you the letter
because I don't have the courage

315
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"to write to you
about it with my own pen."

316
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It's terrible.
Unfortunately, they were effects

317
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of what had just happened
in the war in Europe.

318
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In a communication letter separate
from the international cross.

319
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Maybe in that exact moment Hector
and Adelina understood

320
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
what they had escaped from?

321
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes without a doubt.
I will also tell you

322
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that when my father had
the idea of going to Palestine,

323
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
everyone criticized him;
friends, parents, brothers, the sister,

324
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because they said
he was always pessimistic.

325
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He would rather have wanted them all
to also come with him.

326
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
However, he expected it, also because
the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945.

327
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The news gets to him in August.
Given that months go by

328
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
where he doesn't receive positive news,
he feared for the lives of his parents.

329
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Excuse me but if you permit me.
- Of course.

330
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But before the communication
about the deaths of his parents,

331
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he received communication from Sweden
that said his sister was saved.

332
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Then my aunt Yolanda Clara was part
of that group of prisoners

333
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that were moved
from Auschwitz in December 1944.

334
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They were moved west
so as not to leave a mass

335
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of prisoners in Auschwitz,
because the Red Army was coming.

336
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
She was then liberated
in the north of Ravensbrück in April 1945.

337
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
She was then transferred
to Sweden to recover.

338
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We have said that at this point,
the war ended and Hector and Adelina

339
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
along with their children decide
to return to Italy.

340
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
How difficult was it once again to start
from scratch because they actually had

341
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to start from scratch.

342
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Ah yes.
It was difficult.

343
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
My father's brother,
who had worked in Sansepolcro,

344
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
helped him get a job at his work.
He spoke with Mr. Marco Vittoni

345
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and he said he was quite willing
to hire his brother because he was

346
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a chemist.
Mr. Vittoni wanted a change of pace

347
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for his company.
But when we arrived in Italy in May 1946,

348
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with a short stop in Bologna
and then to Parma at the home

349
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of my maternal grandparents,
and then to Sansepolcro precisely

350
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in November of 1946,
we had absolutely nothing.

351
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And there was nothing...
(Laughter)

352
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Without a doubt, a country in devastation.
- Yes, a country in devastation.

353
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I remember the path with holes.
I remember the Tower of Berta Square

354
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in a pile of ruins.
- The Tower of Berta Square was destroyed.

355
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I repeat, it was also a problem to eat.
I remember my father rented

356
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a furnished apartment
in Saint Claire Square

357
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in which the conditions were...
- Insecure.

358
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Very, very insecure.
However, they were young

359
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and they wanted to start over.
There was my sister and myself.

360
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, they desired to put a painful time
of their lives behind them and start over.

361
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You have previously already answered
that there was resentment towards

362
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that country that made them run away
and also towards those friends

363
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that...
- No.

364
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
had put down the idea of the legeri...
- No, absolutely not.

365
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Other than it being something
that is part of our DNA.

366
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Resentment is useless.
It's best to move forward,

367
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to have the will to start again
and to overcome difficulties.

368
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Not resentment.
I never heard my father

369
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
nor my mother speak ill of Italians.
Yes, it was upsetting to have lost.

370
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
To having lost parents.
To having lost years of work.

371
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
My mom could not return to work
in Milan because there was no way

372
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to find a home.

373
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In 2011, Hector Finzi's
and Adelina's epistolary was donated

374
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to the Pieve diary archives.
It's awarded the <i>Premio Pieve</i>.

375
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
First and foremost, how were you able
to find these letters again,

376
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because they were made public
by the decision of donating them.

377
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
My father dies on June 18, 2002.

378
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We had an apartment in Parma.
In August I was ready to let go of it.

379
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
By chance, I found a bag in his office,
a leather one that holds documents.

380
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There were letters inside
this document holder.

381
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And there were two notebooks,
black ones with a red border

382
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that were used in the past,
and they were diaries.

383
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I understood right away
because I have done historical research

384
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for many years, so I understood
it was something interesting.

385
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I found it strange
that my father never told me anything,

386
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because he didn't say there are letters
and diaries.

387
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And so I took them all to my house,
to my office and I left them there

388
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for a year, a year and a half.
Then I slowly began to read them

389
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with a bit of fear.

390
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Because with letters and diaries...
- One will find...

391
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
always find something intimate.
Then I think in my family,

392
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
nothing would ever be talked about.
No one had ever commented,

393
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
made references.
Then gradually I began

394
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to transcribe these letters.
I can't tell you how I did so,

395
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because they were truly written...
- Strictly handwritten.

396
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Yes, handwritten with a fountain pen,
on tissue paper, because then

397
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it was airmail paper.
So it had... It was

398
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a remove your eyes type job.
In any case, I did this transcription job

399
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of the diary, of the letters, etc.
I had the idea of publishing it.

400
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The full version of this diary,
of these letters...

401
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Just to be certain, I collaborated
with the Diary Archives already

402
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for some time for my research.
In any case, just to be certain,

403
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I went to Pieve Santo Stefano
and I had this volume on hand.

404
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It was Cristina Cangi, who you know.
She asked me:

405
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"What is it professor?"
- "It's this work that I did."

406
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Why don't you submit for the award."

407
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I say I really had not thought
about wanting to publish it.

408
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I start reading some interesting things
and then I submit it.

409
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
...They asked me for the archive
and also for the letters,

410
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but I wasn't going to do that.

411
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I remember that it's naturally possible
to read this publication

412
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that is titled "Transparent",
in which the documentation

413
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is precisely presented.
Published by Il Mulino.

414
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Our arrangement time has ended,
although we would like to talk for hours

415
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
about this story that is a bit,
by certain passages and elements,

416
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
similar to the story
of many other families,

417
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
also of the province of Arezzo.
Perhaps there will be a a way

418
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to talk more about it in the future.
Thank you Daniel Finzi,

419
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
thanks to all of you
who have followed our event,

420
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a special event
that was made possible in collaboration

421
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.
I naturally thank you as well.

422
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In particular, the archives
for this episode were made available

423
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
by Nadia Frulli.
Thank you to all of you

424
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for watching the program with...