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People from Here

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Welcome back to People from Here.
What we want to tell you today

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is the story of two young people,
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.
Then there is Ettore,

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an industrial chemist.
The future can only smile

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upon Adelina and Ettore.
Actually,

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their future will be more turbulent
thank they could have ever imagined.

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In fact,
in 1938 Ettore and Adelina are Jewish.

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On September 18th,
from the balcony of Trieste's town hall,

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Benito Mussolini announced
for the first time the Racial Laws

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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
about Ettore and Adelina

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on the eve of the day.
We will tell it with the son

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of Ettore and Adelina,
Daniele Finzi, who in 2011,

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decided to donate
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 why
this choice was made.

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Now I would like to start
with September 1938.

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

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Ettore and Adelina immediately started
to understand that there wasn't

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a future for them in that country.

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Deciding to leave was
was a difficult decision to make.

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It was a difficult decision,
but one that will save their lives.

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Yes, my father Ettore Finzi was
very knowledgable about history.

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Also because he knew German very well.

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He had two aunts, aunt Genie
and aunt Lazigudita 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,

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he didn't expect it.

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He knew what the contents were about
and he also hoped that Italy would be

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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.
He had known my mom only a few months,

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and he returns
to these months in April 1938.

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It was love at first sight,

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and because of the Race Manifesto
and the Racial Laws,

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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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An ominous date for many.
- Yes.

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

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

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Because, in a sense,
they leave 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,

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from perhaps February
or March of 1939,

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allowed a total of 75,000 Jews

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to enter Palestine for five years.

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However, to qualify to enter,
every person needed to have 1,000 stars.

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Because, like we said, they had chosen.
- To go to...

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The goal was Palestine.
- Yes.

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

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about Latin America.

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But the idea of going 
to Palestine was because it was nearby.

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He was from Trieste so it was close.

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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 any.

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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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It was to put towards this large sum.
And I still remember two leather bags

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with thousands of little stars inside.
They were gold little stars.

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At this point, they reach Palestine.
A tangent here about Palestine.

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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 Haifa on April 6th.

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Yes, because as of 1922,
the British controlled Palestine.

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There were Palestinian Arabs.
The Jewish Palestinians were organized

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

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to dedicate themselves
to agriculture, etc.

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But the foundation, the political one,
was led by the Arab agency.

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

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They arrived in Tel Aviv on April 7th
and twenty days after,

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they were in school learning modern Hebrew
because there were various Jews

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in Tel Aviv from every part of Europe.
It was necessary

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to learn this common language.
So, there was some organization,

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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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Yes, they had to restart.
- from scratch.

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On the other hand, however,
there was a lot of bitterness

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

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Yes.
- Italy.

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Having to leave Italy was stressful.
- Yes.

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In regard to this,
I will also read an excerpt

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from the letters
that have been donated to the archive,

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diaries in which Ettore specifically tells
about what he was feeling shortly after

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the time in which he abandoned Italy.

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We will read this excerpt:
"When I left Italy four months ago,

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

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"than for the imminent danger,
many of my colleagues

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"and friends were quick
to express to me their discontent

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"about what was happening.

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"Through their conversations,
I felt they knew about condolences

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"and they ended up
only making me withdraw.

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"They were whispered conversations solely
because they knew me

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"and thought highly of me.
For many, being an example against

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"the persecution of Jews not being born
in Italy, could also be considered fair,

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"because it is understood that they came
to the country to make a fortune

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"by going behind other's backs.
They had some expert political views.

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"The Fascist government's right
to persecute people that it had let into

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"the country was generally recognized."

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Okay, so Ettore felt betrayed by Italy?

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Without a doubt.
As I was saying prior,

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also because my father was from Trieste.

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From his father, my grandfather,
he had also received an irredentist

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and nationalist upbringing.

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Trieste has always been divided
between people from Trieste, Austria...

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Let's say Austrians.

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and irredentists,
those who love Italy, Italian culture,

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Italian language,
like my grandfather and the Slovenians.

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He had received this upbringing,
and so he was an irredentist nationalist.

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Additionally, he was a genius official,
and he felt like an Italian.

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

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In addition, in Ettore's letters,
in this text, it also highlights

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a responsibility
by the Italian people themselves

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for what was happening.

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He writes:
"The political maturity

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"of the Italian people
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
by the people.

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Well, the Italian people's problem...
(Laughter)

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Living yes...
like saying living today like yesterday.

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In other words,
the lack of personal responsibility

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and accepting anything,
like a leader or a guide,

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that which has
an uglier appearance, if you will.

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And that Trieste...
Not coincidentally Mussolini

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and September 18, 1938,
where they were

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at the Unity of Italy Square
to present the Racial Laws.

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Not only because of
the nationalism that was there,

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but because Trieste was
a very multiethnic, multicultural city.

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

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They coexisted.

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But at the very moment
in which Mussolini showed his cruelty

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towards Jews, who, I repeat,
were real Italians, and felt as such,

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and had also fought
for Italy during the First World War,

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At the point, everyone was inclined
to accept Fascist rule.

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We return to Ettore and Adelina,
who, because of their decisions,

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leave the Second World War behind,
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 the war,
however, like you said, they face a life

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that is not easy.

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

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She finds herself having
to start her work up again.

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Yes, because the main difficulty was
a work shortage.

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There was an excess of workers
(Laughter)

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from Tel Aviv.
And then, there were few jobs

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or they were completely insecure.

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Another big problem was
a housing shortage.

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So much so that my parents were forced
to live with a family,

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with a Polish family in an apartment.

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Above all,
the main difficulty was the work shortage.

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Also because the two bags
of the two thousand stars were not

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to be touched at all.
My father was not flexible.

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My mom then, as long as my father remained
in Tel Aviv until August 23, 1944,

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when he went to work
at the British oil refinery...

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(Interviewer Talking)

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No, he was also with my mom
because they then had my sister first,

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and then I was born in 1942.
So when my father left,

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he felt the obligation to work
to support the family.

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He also liked the idea
of having money to freely spend.

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As mentioned, your mother was free...
- Yes, free.

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in Palestine.
- Yes.

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

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because, meanwhile, he found work
with an oil company.

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

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and the only point of contact
between these two people becomes

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the writing, the letters
that will then become so important

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for documentation, for their memories.
- Yes.

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In fact, if my father accepts
this two year contract

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with this Iranian company,
he would be in Abadan in Persia.

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And it was indeed a military zone.

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He would do his work there
as an industrial chemist.

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Of course, he had to detach
and leave his wife,

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his children in Tel Aviv.

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Then, although very tired,
every evening my mom wrote

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and reported what had happened
during her workday,

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because she had found work
with a company that was part

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of the Tel Aviv pharmaceutical industry.
After then being fired,

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she went to work at a house to iron.
So, she could do anything.

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She reported with great ability,
descriptive, careful about everything

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that went on during the day.
Rather, my father sometimes wrote letters

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with extensive description.
He explained to her a bit about his duty,

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weather problems because it was very hot,
relationships with the British,

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and with the local population
that was in truly devastating conditions.

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They were letters that,
among other things...

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If you permit me a tangent.
They were things one absolutely knew

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but I didn't even know
the letters existed.

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

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Then also about how the decision
to publish them came about.

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Let's go back.
We had said that while Ettore

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and Adelina were in Palestine,
their children were born.

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Yes, my sister...
- You were born

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and your sister Ana was born.

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It is fitting that the future
of these two children was often focused on

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in these letters that Ettore
and Adelina exchange.

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I would like to read another
particularly significant passage

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that is again written by Ettore
from Abadan in February 23, 1945:

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

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

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"These days, I am overthinking
and continuously thinking

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

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"but the future of our children.
I feel irresistibly taken towards

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"a solution that,
although never once explored,

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"today seems inevitable to me.

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"Perhaps in a year's time we will find
the need to have to return to Italy.

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"Then they will become
one hundred percent Italians."

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Probably if your father could have chosen,
he would have never wanted

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to return to Italy.

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Yes, I would not have wanted to also.
Quite the opposite because my father,

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due to having been betrayed by Italy,
deeply desired to return to Italy.

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Apart from the experience in Abadan,
also because life

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in Palestine was truly very hard,
very difficult because

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of the work problem,
and the problem of the lack of apartments.

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However, we can't forget
that the attention

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from the Palestinian Arabs
and the British made life difficult.

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If we could return back in time...
- Yes.

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In September 1940, Tel Aviv was bombed
by Italian planes, right?

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Yes.
- They bombed Tel Aviv

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and it seems like there were one hundred
and fifty two deaths.

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So life was very hard.
Another tangent.

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I mean,
one of the big problems was also food.

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00:18:22,253 --> 00:18:29,133
For example, my sister and I went
to the <i>gan</i>, which was like kindergarten.

230
00:18:29,133 --> 00:18:33,281
To help you understand, at lunch they used
to give us half an egg to eat.

231
00:18:34,471 --> 00:18:38,389
On the other hand,
while facing this situation,

232
00:18:38,389 --> 00:18:45,753
the hope of returning
to Italy continuously remained.

233
00:18:45,866 --> 00:18:49,513
And how did Adelina live
with the hope of returning?

234
00:18:49,513 --> 00:18:55,398
I will read another significant passage:
"I will never ask those taking that step.

235
00:18:55,410 --> 00:18:59,731
"Here I feel undoubtedly hesitant
by instinct and by force of tradition.

236
00:18:59,842 --> 00:19:02,511
"And I won't ever ask myself,
not only out of obedience,

237
00:19:02,511 --> 00:19:06,123
"but because more than anything else,
I am concerned

238
00:19:06,123 --> 00:19:10,627
"about doing everything possible
for the future of our children."

239
00:19:10,897 --> 00:19:14,784
It's like saying,
she was also willing to do her part.

240
00:19:14,784 --> 00:19:18,704
There was a sense of pride
of returning to Italy,

241
00:19:18,758 --> 00:19:22,306
that country that had dismissed them,
in order to guarantee

242
00:19:22,306 --> 00:19:24,000
a future for you children.

243
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,914
Here there is a...
(Laughter)

244
00:19:27,914 --> 00:19:31,716
There are many letters.
In any case, when my father says

245
00:19:31,716 --> 00:19:34,439
that they will become
one hundred percent Italians,

246
00:19:34,839 --> 00:19:43,788
he also proposes to my mom
the idea of converting to Catholicism,

247
00:19:43,934 --> 00:19:46,407
because we were Jews.
- (Interviewer) Of course.

248
00:19:46,947 --> 00:19:55,228
Meanwhile, the Finzi from Trieste were
almost completely assimilated.

249
00:19:55,477 --> 00:19:58,485
That is to say,
they went to the temple twice a year.

250
00:19:59,018 --> 00:20:04,070
Instead, my mom was
from a much more orthodox family,

251
00:20:04,394 --> 00:20:12,133
They came from the Parrdo,
a very important Iberian family.

252
00:20:12,243 --> 00:20:18,744
Parrdo which used to be Prado.
They came from Spain after the expulsion.

253
00:20:18,744 --> 00:20:25,372
So my father proposes this idea
of converting to Catholicism

254
00:20:25,539 --> 00:20:30,822
in order for his children...
- To become...

255
00:20:30,845 --> 00:20:34,506
Yes, to become entirely Italian,
even as a religion.

256
00:20:34,546 --> 00:20:39,192
However my mom... Here it says
that she was reluctant.

257
00:20:39,192 --> 00:20:46,739
Not because she was personally orthodox,
but because, in that moment when

258
00:20:46,755 --> 00:20:51,589
it was known what was happening
in Europe, the extermination camps

259
00:20:51,603 --> 00:20:56,844
or another difficult situation,
they absolutely didn't know

260
00:20:56,844 --> 00:21:00,557
where my paternal
and maternal grandparents were.

261
00:21:00,576 --> 00:21:08,617
Then, however, the news arrived,
even betraying the origin and...

262
00:21:08,617 --> 00:21:12,320
It was quite heavy.
- Yes, very heavy.

263
00:21:12,716 --> 00:21:18,527
By the way, how did the news
about the war arrive meanwhile

264
00:21:18,527 --> 00:21:22,558
it continued in Europe?
Was there just an awareness

265
00:21:22,558 --> 00:21:25,522
of what was happening?
Was there an awareness

266
00:21:25,522 --> 00:21:29,823
of the existence
of the extermination camps?

267
00:21:29,823 --> 00:21:32,752
Above all, how did they also live
with these dual feelings?

268
00:21:32,752 --> 00:21:34,860
Because, on the one hand,
there was this hope

269
00:21:34,860 --> 00:21:38,927
of being able to return one day
to a normal life in Italy.

270
00:21:39,219 --> 00:21:42,063
On the other hand, however,
there was a lot of fear

271
00:21:42,063 --> 00:21:43,818
also for the fate of loved ones.

272
00:21:44,824 --> 00:21:46,517
They knew everything.

273
00:21:47,017 --> 00:21:52,128
Both about the Jewish agency
and the British.

274
00:21:52,571 --> 00:21:56,747
The news arrived quite detailed.

275
00:21:57,497 --> 00:22:05,452
I don't want to forget a noteworthy group
of young Jews that were part

276
00:22:05,813 --> 00:22:09,149
of the Jewish brigade.

277
00:22:09,677 --> 00:22:16,170
They fought alongside the British
and they also fought in Italy.

278
00:22:16,170 --> 00:22:18,341
Then in all of Europe.

279
00:22:18,341 --> 00:22:26,481
They were the ones who said
that they gave very detailed news

280
00:22:26,481 --> 00:22:27,564
of what was happening.

281
00:22:27,607 --> 00:22:33,865
So, they knew about everything
that was coming to Italy and Europe.

282
00:22:34,403 --> 00:22:43,692
The concerns were
about my paternal grandparents,

283
00:22:43,692 --> 00:22:47,884
those who later died in Auschwitz,
that they didn't...

284
00:22:47,884 --> 00:22:55,785
The last official news was transmitted
by a type of telegram of the Red Cross

285
00:22:55,785 --> 00:23:01,763
in July of 1943.
My father knew absolutely nothing.

286
00:23:02,081 --> 00:23:09,052
My mom didn't know.
She knew that her parents were hidden.

287
00:23:09,062 --> 00:23:10,957
Her brother was in Switzerland.

288
00:23:11,467 --> 00:23:14,317
But they had absolutely no news.

289
00:23:14,577 --> 00:23:21,794
They couldn't say or write anything
because the mail was altered.

290
00:23:22,605 --> 00:23:26,074
Outgoing and incoming mail was altered.

291
00:23:26,634 --> 00:23:32,638
I found that at least some details
in the letters had been deleted precisely

292
00:23:32,638 --> 00:23:36,744
by the person that did the alterations.

293
00:23:36,744 --> 00:23:40,883
So, dad needed to be careful
because they were altered by the British.

294
00:23:41,214 --> 00:23:45,502
They were altered by the Persians.
Then they were altered on arrival

295
00:23:45,529 --> 00:23:47,114
in Palestine.
So, they were...

296
00:23:47,114 --> 00:23:50,453
In this situation,
they also found themselves in a state

297
00:23:50,453 --> 00:23:58,370
of uncertainty being far from Europe,
far from what was happening

298
00:23:58,370 --> 00:24:01,969
in Europe,
far from the war.

299
00:24:03,069 --> 00:24:08,373
For a moment, Adelina perhaps had hoped,
from what Ledi writes,

300
00:24:09,343 --> 00:24:16,133
that her family would have an advantage
over the immense tragedy

301
00:24:16,133 --> 00:24:18,035
that afflicted the Jews of Europe.

302
00:24:18,035 --> 00:24:21,255
That they would all find themselves
reunited upon their return.

303
00:24:21,255 --> 00:24:23,765
There was almost this illusion, this hope.

304
00:24:24,060 --> 00:24:28,838
Having high hopes is often the last idea.
They did have hope.

305
00:24:29,025 --> 00:24:38,351
They didn't have detailed news
even if my dad's brother

306
00:24:38,351 --> 00:24:47,722
a doctor who lived in Bologna,
but in the mountains

307
00:24:47,722 --> 00:24:50,638
in the area
of Monghidoro and Loiano.

308
00:24:51,167 --> 00:24:55,290
He knew
that his parents had been arrested,

309
00:24:55,293 --> 00:24:56,843
that they had been deported.

310
00:24:57,233 --> 00:25:02,545
However, he had not communicated anything.
Even though, assuming they went

311
00:25:02,905 --> 00:25:07,841
to Auschwitz, there could have always been
the hope of returning.

312
00:25:07,841 --> 00:25:11,431
Therefore, they hoped.

313
00:25:11,471 --> 00:25:14,635
Unfortunately, however,
the terrible news was that they arrived.

314
00:25:14,635 --> 00:25:19,609
They also arrived in Palestine while
the war by now...

315
00:25:19,609 --> 00:25:22,092
It was over.
- By now it was over.

316
00:25:22,276 --> 00:25:26,075
And like you said,
the terrible news arrived by mail.

317
00:25:26,425 --> 00:25:31,742
News so terrible
that Adelina cannot even transcribe them

318
00:25:31,742 --> 00:25:34,243
in a letter to Ettore.
She writes:

319
00:25:34,443 --> 00:25:38,045
"My dear, unfortunately,
the dreary news has arrived.

320
00:25:38,265 --> 00:25:41,129
"I am sending you the letter
because I don't have the courage

321
00:25:41,129 --> 00:25:42,330
"to write about it."

322
00:25:42,330 --> 00:25:47,086
It's terrible.
Unfortunately, they were reactions

323
00:25:47,086 --> 00:25:51,568
to what had just happened
in the war in Europe.

324
00:25:51,726 --> 00:25:55,684
In a communication letter separate
from the international cross.

325
00:25:55,747 --> 00:25:59,343
Maybe in that exact moment Ettore
and Adelina understood

326
00:25:59,503 --> 00:26:03,378
what they had escaped from?

327
00:26:03,672 --> 00:26:08,954
Yes without a doubt.
I will also tell you

328
00:26:08,954 --> 00:26:14,162
that when my father had
the idea of going to Palestine,

329
00:26:14,865 --> 00:26:19,670
everyone criticized him;
friends, parents, brothers, the sister,

330
00:26:19,916 --> 00:26:25,663
because they said:
"You are always pessimistic".

331
00:26:26,395 --> 00:26:31,497
He would rather have wanted them all
to also come with him.

332
00:26:32,038 --> 00:26:38,689
However, he expected it,
also because the war

333
00:26:38,693 --> 00:26:44,123
in Europe ended on May 8, 1945.

334
00:26:44,123 --> 00:26:46,587
The news gets to him in August.

335
00:26:47,357 --> 00:26:53,147
Given that months go by
where he doesn't receive

336
00:26:53,147 --> 00:26:57,154
positive news,
he feared for the lives of his parents.

337
00:26:57,584 --> 00:27:00,054
Excuse me but if you permit me.
- (Interviewer) Sure.

338
00:27:00,054 --> 00:27:07,560
But before the communication
about the deaths of his parents,

339
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:14,963
he received communication from Sweden
that said his sister was saved.

340
00:27:15,716 --> 00:27:23,150
Then my aunt Yolanda Clara was part
of that group of prisoners

341
00:27:23,153 --> 00:27:27,999
that were moved
from Auschwitz in December 1944.

342
00:27:27,999 --> 00:27:33,160
They were moved west
so as not to leave a mass

343
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:39,981
of prisoners in Auschwitz,
because the Red Army was coming.

344
00:27:40,409 --> 00:27:49,088
She was then liberated
in the north of Ravensbrück in April 1945.

345
00:27:49,088 --> 00:27:53,022
She was then transferred
to Sweden to recover.

346
00:27:53,535 --> 00:27:59,169
We have said that at this point,
the war had ended and Ettore and Adelina

347
00:27:59,403 --> 00:28:04,396
along with their children decide
to return to Italy.

348
00:28:04,714 --> 00:28:09,234
How difficult was it once again to start
from scratch because they actually had

349
00:28:09,234 --> 00:28:10,284
to start from scratch.

350
00:28:10,290 --> 00:28:12,409
Ah yes.
It was difficult.

351
00:28:12,619 --> 00:28:17,951
My father's brother helped him
with a job at his work in Sansepolcro.

352
00:28:18,460 --> 00:28:22,143
He spoke with Mr. Marco Vittoni,
who said:

353
00:28:22,143 --> 00:28:26,364
"I am willing to hire your brother
because he is a chemist.

354
00:28:26,660 --> 00:28:32,109
Also, I want a change
for the company, etc."

355
00:28:32,662 --> 00:28:39,780
But when we arrived in Italy in May 1946,
with a short stop in Bologna

356
00:28:39,780 --> 00:28:42,266
and then to Parma
with my maternal grandparents,

357
00:28:42,571 --> 00:28:48,811
and then to Sansepolcro precisely
in November of 1946,

358
00:28:49,216 --> 00:28:51,122
and we had absolutely nothing.

359
00:28:51,898 --> 00:28:54,352
And there was nothing...
(Laughter)

360
00:28:54,355 --> 00:28:58,512
<i>Without a doubt, a country in devastation.</i>
- Yes, a country in devastation.

361
00:28:58,512 --> 00:29:03,040
I remember the path with holes.
I remember the Tower of Berta Square

362
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,523
in a pile of ruins.
- The Tower of Berta Square was destroyed.

363
00:29:06,771 --> 00:29:12,297
I repeat, it was also a problem to eat.

364
00:29:12,307 --> 00:29:16,527
I remember my dad rented
a furnished apartment

365
00:29:16,527 --> 00:29:21,762
in Saint Claire Square
in which the conditions were really...

366
00:29:21,911 --> 00:29:24,129
Insecure.
- Very, very insecure.

367
00:29:24,129 --> 00:29:28,309
However, they were young
and they wanted to start over.

368
00:29:28,707 --> 00:29:36,089
There was my sister and myself.
So, they wanted to put a painful time

369
00:29:36,212 --> 00:29:39,382
of their lives behind them and start over.

370
00:29:39,546 --> 00:29:44,762
You have previously already answered
that there was resentment towards

371
00:29:44,762 --> 00:29:49,694
that country that made them escape
and also towards those friends

372
00:29:49,701 --> 00:29:52,467
that...
- No.

373
00:29:52,467 --> 00:29:59,018
had put down the idea of the...
- No, absolutely not.

374
00:29:59,018 --> 00:30:02,690
Other than it being something
that is part of our DNA,

375
00:30:02,690 --> 00:30:09,575
resentment is useless.
It's best to move forward,

376
00:30:09,945 --> 00:30:17,035
to have the will to start again
and to overcome difficulties.

377
00:30:17,035 --> 00:30:21,218
Not resentment.
I never heard my father

378
00:30:21,218 --> 00:30:28,901
nor my mother speak ill of Italians.
Yes, it was upsetting to have lost, right.

379
00:30:29,271 --> 00:30:30,701
(Interviewer talking)
- Yes.

380
00:30:30,701 --> 00:30:36,332
To having lost parents.
To having lost years of work.

381
00:30:36,342 --> 00:30:41,473
My mom could not return to work
in Milan because there was no way

382
00:30:41,773 --> 00:30:42,766
to find a home.

383
00:30:44,518 --> 00:30:52,924
In 2011, Ettore Finzi's
and Adelina's epistolary was donated

384
00:30:52,985 --> 00:30:57,000
to the Pieve diary archives.
It's awarded the <i>Premio Pieve</i>.

385
00:30:57,048 --> 00:31:02,938
First and foremost, how were you able
to find these letters again,

386
00:31:02,938 --> 00:31:06,449
because they were made public
by the decision of donating them.

387
00:31:07,287 --> 00:31:11,526
My father died on June 18, 2002.

388
00:31:12,364 --> 00:31:20,882
He lived in an apartment in Parma.
In August I was ready to let go of it.

389
00:31:21,592 --> 00:31:31,633
By chance, I found a bag in his office,
a leather one that held documents.

390
00:31:31,961 --> 00:31:37,794
There were letters inside
this document holder.

391
00:31:38,691 --> 00:31:42,948
And there were two notebooks,
black ones with a red border

392
00:31:42,948 --> 00:31:46,454
that were used in the past,
and inside was his diary.

393
00:31:47,307 --> 00:31:51,653
I understood right away
because I have done historical research

394
00:31:51,653 --> 00:31:55,636
for many years, so I understood
it was something interesting.

395
00:31:56,012 --> 00:31:59,670
I found it strange
that my father never told me anything,

396
00:31:59,670 --> 00:32:06,051
because he didn't say to me:
"Look, there are letters and diaries".

397
00:32:06,651 --> 00:32:10,739
And so I took them all to my house,
to my office and I left them there

398
00:32:10,739 --> 00:32:12,900
for a year, a year and a half.

399
00:32:13,340 --> 00:32:16,764
Then I slowly began to read them
with a bit of fear.

400
00:32:17,468 --> 00:32:21,698
Because with diaries and letters...
- (Interviewer) One will find...

401
00:32:21,698 --> 00:32:26,119
always find something intimate.
Then I think in my family,

402
00:32:26,119 --> 00:32:31,574
nothing would ever be talked about.
No one had ever commented,

403
00:32:31,574 --> 00:32:35,297
or made references.

404
00:32:35,899 --> 00:32:40,136
Then I gradually began
to transcribe these letters.

405
00:32:40,136 --> 00:32:43,847
I can't tell you how I did so,
because they were written...

406
00:32:43,907 --> 00:32:45,573
(Interviewer) <i>No doubt handwritten.</i>

407
00:32:45,573 --> 00:32:49,340
Yes, handwritten with a fountain pen,
on tissue paper,

408
00:32:49,339 --> 00:32:51,847
because back then it was airmail paper.

409
00:32:52,177 --> 00:32:58,997
To sum up, it was a type of job
that strained the eyes.

410
00:32:59,587 --> 00:33:05,460
In any case, I did this transcription job
of the diary, of the letters, etc.

411
00:33:05,460 --> 00:33:08,166
I had the idea of publishing it.

412
00:33:08,764 --> 00:33:16,672
The full version of this diary,
of these letters...

413
00:33:17,305 --> 00:33:22,759
Um... Just to be certain...
I was already collaborating

414
00:33:22,759 --> 00:33:26,979
with the diary archives
for some time for my own research

415
00:33:27,239 --> 00:33:30,529
in the fields of Rinisce, Paganini, etc.

416
00:33:31,029 --> 00:33:35,870
Just to be certain,
I went to Pieve Santo Stefano

417
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,580
and I had the volume in hand.

418
00:33:40,172 --> 00:33:43,176
It was Cristina Cangi, who you will meet.

419
00:33:43,946 --> 00:33:46,926
And she asked me:
"What is it professor"?

420
00:33:46,930 --> 00:33:52,301
"It's this work that I did".
- "Why don't you submit it for the award"?

421
00:33:52,930 --> 00:33:57,267
I say I really had not thought
about wanting to publish it.

422
00:33:58,045 --> 00:34:04,696
I start reading some interesting things
and then I submit it.

423
00:34:04,965 --> 00:34:09,972
They asked me for the archive
and also for the letters,

424
00:34:09,972 --> 00:34:11,745
but I wasn't going to do that.

425
00:34:11,781 --> 00:34:17,007
It's possible
to read this publication

426
00:34:17,007 --> 00:34:19,611
that is titled <i>Transparenti</i>,
in which the documentation

427
00:34:19,611 --> 00:34:23,531
is presented
and published by <i>Il Mulino</i>.

428
00:34:23,876 --> 00:34:28,396
Our arrangement time has ended,
although we would like to talk for hours

429
00:34:28,396 --> 00:34:34,272
about this story that is a bit similar,
by certain passages and elements,

430
00:34:34,272 --> 00:34:36,660
to the story
of many other families,

431
00:34:36,895 --> 00:34:41,568
also of the province of Arezzo.
Perhaps there will be a way

432
00:34:41,568 --> 00:34:46,937
to talk more about it in the future.
Thank you Daniele Finzi.

433
00:34:46,937 --> 00:34:52,562
Thanks to all of you
who have followed our episode,

434
00:34:52,562 --> 00:34:54,776
a special episode
that was made possible

435
00:34:54,776 --> 00:35:00,425
in collaboration
with The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

436
00:35:00,425 --> 00:35:05,443
I naturally thank The Archives.
In particular,

437
00:35:05,443 --> 00:35:08,245
the archives
for this episode were made available

438
00:35:08,245 --> 00:35:10,337
by Nadia Frulli.

439
00:35:10,630 --> 00:35:15,067
Thank you to all of you
for watching the program.