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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
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,
a brilliant lawyer who works

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at a prestigious legal firm in Milan.

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Then there is Hector,
an industrial chemist.

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The future can only smile
at Adelina and Hector.

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Actually,
their future will be more turbulent

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than they could have ever imagined.

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The fact is,
in 1938 Hector and Adelina are Jewish.

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On September 18th,
in the town of Trieste,

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Benito Mussolini announced Racial Laws
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
suddenly collapses under their feet.

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We will tell this story
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
of Hector and Adelina,

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Daniele Finzi, who in 2011, decided
to donate his parents letters

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and documents
to The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

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Shortly we will also discuss why
this choice was made.

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I would like to start precisely
with September 1938,

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with Mussolini's announcement
of the laws for the defense of the race.

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Hector and Adelina immediately started
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
a difficult decision,

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but one that will save their lives.

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Yes, my father Hector Finzi had
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
and aunt Lazagudita Gentiluomo,

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who both lived in Vienna.

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He had followed all
the Nazi antisemitism up to March 1938.

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So when the race manifesto was published
in July 1938, he didn't expect it.

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He knew what our limits were
and he also hoped

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that Italy was perhaps
a little different from Germany.

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And my father, more than my mother,
made quick and immediate decisions.

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He was also very intuitive.

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He had known my mom only
a few month in 1938.

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It was love at first sight
and because of the race manifesto,

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the Racial Laws,
they decided to get married.

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They were married in Milan
on December 1, 1938.

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In 1938. We arrive in 1939.
- Yes.

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A manifest date for many.
- Yes.

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Very unjust, but there is a turning point.
- There is a turning point.

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Hector and Adelina decide to leave.
Or rather, how do they depart?

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Because, in a way,
they leave well informed.

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Yes and no.
The problem is immediate

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and that of money.

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Because the White Paper of the British,
a policy from maybe February

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or March of 1939, 
allowed a total of 75,000 Jews

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to enter Palestine for five years.

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But to qualify, 
every person needed to have 1,000 stars.

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Like we had said, they had chosen.
The goal was Palestine.

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The choice was not a coincidence,
because my father had also thought

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of Latin America.

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But the idea of going 
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, 
the issue of money was really

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a huge problem
because they didn't have money.

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So, thanks to the lawyer Gianni Morandi,
who was the owner of the firm

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where my mom worked,
they went to Zurich for their honeymoon.

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Then they went to Lugano
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
with thousands of stars inside.

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They were gold stars.

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Okay, at this point, they reach Palestine.
The State of Israel still didn't exist.

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There wasn't any money to protect them.
Therefore, they had to start from scratch?

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Yes, and so, they started all over again
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
the British controlled Palestine.

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There were Palestinian Arabs.

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The Jewish Palestinians were organized
by the <i>Yishuv</i>, who were more concerned

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with the <i>kibbutz</i> and wanted
to dedicate themselves

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to agriculture, etc.

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But the harm, the political one,
was directed by the Arab agency.

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The Arab agency was, well,
I will give you an example.

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Those who arrived
in Tel Aviv on April 7th,

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were in school learning modern Hebrew
twenty days after arriving,

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because there were various Jews
in Tel Aviv from every part of Europe.

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And so, it was necessary
to learn this common language.

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Therefore, there was some organization,
but there were a lot of problems.

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In any case, where I mentally find...
- Ah, yes.

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...this small amount of protection.
However, they had to start...

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They had to restart.
- ...from scratch.

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On the other hand, however,
there were also a lot of comforts

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that were left behind by the fact
of having to abandon...

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- Yes.
...Italy.

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Having to leave Italy was strenuous.
- Yes.

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In regard to this,
I would also read an excerpt

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from the letters
that may have been donated to the archive,

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diaries in which Hector specifies
what he was feeling shortly after the time

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at which he abandoned Italy.