In fuga dalla Shoah. La storia della famiglia Finzi - Gente di qui

People from Here

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

is the story of two young people,
of two young people with high hopes.

There is Adelina,
a brilliant lawyer who works

at a prestigious legal firm in Milan.
Then there is Ettore,

an industrial chemist.
The future can only smile

upon Adelina and Ettore.
Actually,

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

In fact,
in 1938 Ettore and Adelina are Jewish.

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

Benito Mussolini announced
for the first time the Racial Laws

for the defense of the race.

The world of those two young people
suddenly collapses under their feet.

We will tell this story
about Ettore and Adelina

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

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

decided to donate
his parents letters and documents

to The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

Shortly we will also discuss why
this choice was made.

Now I would like to start
with September 1938.

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

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

a future for them in that country.

Deciding to leave their country was
a difficult decision,

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

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

Also because he knew German very well.

He had two aunts, aunt Genie
and aunt Lazigudita Gentiluomo,

who both lived in Vienna.

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

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

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

a little different from Germany.

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

He was also very intuitive.
He had known my mom only a few months,

and he returns
to these months in April 1938.

It was love at first sight
and because of the Race Manifesto

and the Racial Laws,
they decided to get married.

They were married in Milan
on December 1, 1938.

In 1938. We arrive in 1939.
- Yes.

An ominous date for many.
- Yes.

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

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

Because, in a sense,
they leave informed.

Yes and no.
The problem is immediate

and that of money.

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

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

to enter Palestine for five years.

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

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

The goal was Palestine.
- Yes.

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

about Latin America.

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

He was from Trieste so it was close.

He also hoped his parents could join him.

In any case,
the issue of money was really

a huge problem
because they didn't have any.

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

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

Then they went to Lugano
to gather clients for the lawyer.

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

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

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

The State of Israel still didn't exist.

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

Yes, and so, they started all over again
from January to April 1, 1939.

They arrived in Haifa on April 6th.

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

There were Palestinian Arabs.
The Jewish Palestinians were organized

by the Yishuv, who were more concerned
with the kibbutz and wanted

to dedicate themselves
to agriculture, etc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

but there were a lot of problems.

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

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

Yes, they had to restart.
- from scratch.

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

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

Yes.
- Italy.

Having to leave Italy was stressful.
- Yes.

In regard to this,
I will also read an excerpt

from the letters
that have been donated to the archive,

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

the time at which he abandoned Italy.

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

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

"than for the imminent danger,
many of my colleagues

"and friends were quick
to express to me their discontent

"about what was happening.
Through their conversations,

"I felt they knew what sympathy meant,
and they only ended up making me withdraw.

"They were whispered conversations solely
because they knew me

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

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

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

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

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

"the country was generally recognized."

Okay, so Ettore felt betrayed by Italy?

Without a doubt.
As I was saying prior,

also because my father was from Trieste.
From his father, my grandfather,

he had also received an irredentist
and nationalist upbringing.

Trieste has always been divided
between people from Trieste

and irredentists,
those who love Italy, Italian culture,

Italian language,
like my grandfather and the Slovenians.

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

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

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

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

a responsibility
by the Italian people themselves

for what was happening.

He writes:
"The political maturity

"of the Italian people
is apparently that of government rule

"that it has and that it deserves."

There is a precise responsibility
by the people.

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

is like saying living today like yesterday.

In other words,
the lack of personal responsibility

and accepting anything,
like a leader or a guide,

that which has
an uglier appearance, if you will.

And that Trieste...
Not coincidentally Mussolini

and September 18, 1938,
where they were

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

Not only because of
the nationalism that was there,

but because Trieste was
a very multiethnic, multicultural city.

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

They coexisted.
But at that very moment

in which Mussolini showed his cruelty
towards Jews, who, I repeat,

were real Italians, and felt as such,
and had also fought

for Italy during the First World War.
At the point, everyone was inclined

to accept Fascist rule.

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

leave the Second World War behind,
in which the persecution of Jews

and the holocaust is about to start.
They leave behind the errors of the war,

however, like I said, they face a life
that is not easy.

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

She finds herself having
to start her work up again.

Yes, because the main difficulty was
a work shortage.

There was an excess of workers
(Laughter)

from Tel Aviv.
And then, there were few jobs

or they were completely insecure.
Another big problem was

a housing shortage.

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

in an apartment.
Above all,

the main difficulty was the work shortage.
Also because the two bags

of the two thousand stars were not
to be touched at all.

My father was not flexible.

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

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

(Interviewer Talking)

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

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

he felt the obligation to work
to support the family.

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

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

in Palestine.
- Yes.

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

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

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

and the only point of contact
between these two people becomes

the writing, the letters
that will then become so important

for documentation, for their memories.
- Yes.

In fact, if my father accepts
this two year contract

with this Iranian company,
from Abadan in Persia,

he would do his work
as an industrial chemist

in this precise military zone.
Of course, he had to detach,

he had to leave his wife,
his children in Tel Aviv.

Then, although very tired,
every evening my mom wrote

and reported what had happened
during her workday,

because she had found work
with a company that was part

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

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

She reported with great ability,
descriptive, careful about everything

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

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

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

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

They were letters that,
among other things...

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

but I didn't even know the letters existed.

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

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

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

and Adelina were in Palestine,
their children were born.

Yes, my sister...
- You were born

and your sister Ana was born.

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

on in these letters that Ettore
and Adelina exchange.

I would like to read another
particularly significant passage

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

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

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

"These days, I am overthinking
and continuously thinking

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

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

"a solution that,
although never once explored,

"today seems inevitable to me.
Perhaps in a year's time we will find

"the need to have to return to Italy.
Then they will become

"one hundred percent Italians."

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

to return to Italy.

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

because of having been betrayed by Italy,
my father deeply desired to return to Italy.

Apart from the experience in Abadan,
also because life

in Palestine was truly very hard,
very difficult because of the work problem,

and the problem of the lack of apartments.
However, we can't forget

that the attention
from the Palestinian Arabs

and the British made life difficult.

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

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

Yes.
- They bombed Tel Aviv and it seems

like there were one hundred
and fifty two deaths.

So life was very hard.
Another tangent.

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

For example, my sister and I went
to the gan, which was like kindergarten.

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

On the other hand,
while facing this situation,

the hope of returning
to Italy continuously remained.

And how did Adelina live
with the hope of returning?

I will read another significant passage:
"I will never ask those taking that step.

"Here I feel undoubtedly hesitant
by instinct and by force of tradition.

"And I won't ever ask myself,
not only out of obedience,

"but because more than anything else,
I am concerned

"about doing everything possible
for the future of our children."

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

There was a sense of pride
to return to Italy,

that country that had dismissed them,
in order to guarantee

a future for you children.

Then here there is a...
(Laughter)

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

that they will become
one hundred percent Italians,

he also proposes to my mom
the idea of converting to Catholicism,

because we were Jews.
- (Interviewer) Of course.

Meanwhile, the Finzi from Trieste were
almost completely assimilated.

That is to say,
they went to the temple twice a year.

Instead, my mom was
from a much more orthodox family,

They came from the Parrdo,
a very important Iberian family.

Parrdo which used to be Prado.
They came from Spain after the expulsion.

So my father proposes this idea
of converting to Catholicism

in order for his children...
- To become...

Yes, to become entirely Italian,
even as a religion.

However my mom... Here it says
that she was reluctant.

Not because she was personally orthodox,
but because, in that moment when

it was known what was happening
in Europe, the extermination camps

or another difficult situation,
they absolutely didn't know

where my paternal
and maternal grandparents were.

Then, however, the news arrived
even betraying the origin and...

It was quite heavy.
- Yes, very heavy.

By the way, how did the news
about the war arrive meanwhile

it continued in Europe?
Was there just an awareness

of what was happening?
Was there an awareness

of the existence
of the extermination camps?

Yes.
- Above all, how did they live

with these dual feelings?
Because, on the one hand,

there was this hope
of being able to return one day

to a normal life in Italy.
On the other hand, however,

there was a lot of fear
also for the fate of loved ones.

They knew everything.

Both about the Jewish agency
and the British.

The news arrived quite detailed.
I don't want to forget a noteworthy group

of young Jews that were part
of the Jewish brigade.

They fought alongside the British
and they also fought in Italy,

then in all of Europe.
They were the ones who said

that they gave very detailed news
of what was happening.

So, they knew about everything
that was coming to Italy and Europe.

The concerns were
about my paternal grandparents,

those who later died in Auschwitz,
that they didn't...

The last official news was transmitted
by a type of telegram of the Red Cross

in July of 1943.
My father knew absolutely nothing.

My mom didn't know.
She knew that her parents were hidden.

Her brother was in Switzerland.
But they had absolutely no news.

They couldn't say or write anything
because the mail was altered.

Outgoing and incoming mail was altered.
I found that at least some details

in the letters had been deleted precisely
by the person that did the alterations.

So, my father needed to be careful
because they were altered by the British.

They were altered by the Persians.
Then they were altered on arrival

in Palestine.
So, they were...

In this situation,
they also found themselves in a state

of uncertainty being far from Europe,
far from what was happening in Europe,

far from the war.

For a moment, Adelina perhaps had hoped
that her family would have an advantage

over the immense tragedy
that afflicted the Jews of Europe,

that they would all find themselves
reunited upon their return.

There was almost this illusion, this hope.

Hope is often the last idea.
There was hope.

They didn't have detailed news.
My father's brother was a doctor

who lived in Bologna
in the mountains of Monghidoro.

He knew
that his parents had been arrested,

that they had been deported.
However, he had not communicated anything.

Even though, hypothetically they went
to Auschwitz, there could have always been

the hope of returning.
Therefore, they hoped.

Unfortunately, however,
the terrible news was that they arrived.

They arrived in Palestine while
the war by now...

It was over.
- By now it was over.

And like you said,
the terrible news arrived by mail.

News so terrible
that Adelina cannot even transcribe them

in a letter to Ettore.
She writes:

"My dear, unfortunately,
the dreary news has arrived.

"I am sending you the letter
because I don't have the courage

"to write to you
about it with my own pen."

It's terrible.
Unfortunately, they were reactions

to what had just happened
in the war in Europe.

In a communication letter separate
from the international cross.

Maybe in that exact moment Ettore
and Adelina understood

what they had escaped from?

Yes without a doubt.
I will also tell you

that when my father had
the idea of going to Palestine,

everyone criticized him;
friends, parents, brothers, the sister,

because they said
that he was always pessimistic.

He would rather have wanted them all
to also come with him.

However, he expected it, also because
the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945.

The news gets to him in August.
Given that months go by

where he doesn't receive positive news,
he feared for the lives of his parents.

Excuse me but if you permit me.
- (Interviewer) Of course.

But before the communication
about the deaths of his parents,

he received communication from Sweden
that said his sister was saved.

Then my aunt Yolanda Clara was part
of that group of prisoners

that were moved
from Auschwitz in December 1944.

They were moved west
so as not to leave a mass

of prisoners in Auschwitz,
because the Red Army was coming.

She was then liberated
in the north of Ravensbrück in April 1945.

She was then transferred
to Sweden to recover.

We have said that at this point,
the war had ended and Ettore and Adelina

along with their children decide
to return to Italy.

How difficult was it once again to start
from scratch because they actually had

to start from scratch.

Ah yes.
It was difficult.

My father's brother,
who had worked in Sansepolcro,

helped him get a job at his work.
He spoke with Mr. Marco Vittoni

and he said he was quite willing
to hire his brother

because he was a chemist.
Mr. Vittoni wanted a change of pace

for his company.
But when we arrived in Italy in May 1946,

with a short stop in Bologna
and then to Parma at the home

of my maternal grandparents,
and then to Sansepolcro precisely

in November of 1946,
we had absolutely nothing.

And there was nothing...
(Laughter)

Without a doubt, a country in devastation.
- Yes, a country in devastation.

I remember the path with holes.
I remember the Tower of Berta Square

in a pile of ruins.
- The Tower of Berta Square was destroyed.

I repeat, it was also a problem to eat.
I remember my father rented

a furnished apartment
in Saint Claire Square

in which the conditions were...
- Insecure.

Very, very insecure.
However, they were young

and they wanted to start over.
There was my sister and myself.

So, they wanted to put a painful time
of their lives behind them and start over.

You have previously already answered
that there was resentment towards

that country that made them escape
and also towards those friends

that...
- No.

had put down the idea of the...
- No, absolutely not.

Other than it being something
that is part of our DNA,

resentment is useless.
It's best to move forward,

to have the will to start again
and to overcome difficulties.

Not resentment.
I never heard my father

nor my mother speak ill of Italians.
Yes, it was upsetting to have lost.

To having lost parents.
To having lost years of work.

My mom could not return to work
in Milan because there was no way

to find a home.

In 2011, Ettore Finzi's
and Adelina's epistolary was donated

to the Pieve diary archives.
It's awarded the Premio Pieve.

First and foremost, how were you able
to find these letters again,

because they were made public
by the decision of donating them.

My father died on June 18, 2002.

He lived in an apartment in Parma.
In August I was ready to let go of it.

By chance, I found a bag in his office,
a leather one that held documents.

There were letters inside
this document holder.

And there were two notebooks,
black ones with a red border

that were used in the past,
and inside were his diaries.

I understood right away
because I have done historical research

for many years, so I understood
it was something interesting.

I found it strange
that my father never told me anything,

because he didn't say to me
that there were letters and diaries.

And so I took them all to my house,
to my office and I left them there

for a year, a year and a half.
Then I slowly began to read them

with a bit of fear.

Because with diaries and letters...
- One will find...

always find something intimate.
Then I think in my family,

nothing would ever be talked about.
No one had ever commented,

or made references.
Then I gradually began

to transcribe these letters.
I can't tell you how I did so,

because they were truly written...
- Strictly handwritten.

Yes, handwritten with a fountain pen,
on tissue paper, because back then

it was airmail paper.
It was a type of job

that strained the eyes.
In any case, I did this transcription job

of the diary, of the letters, etc.
I had the idea of publishing it.

The full version of this diary,
of these letters...

I had already collaborated
with the diary archives

for some time for my research.
In any case, just to be certain,

I went to Pieve Santo Stefano
and I had this volume in hand.

It was Cristina Cangi, who you will meet.
She asked me:

"What is it professor?"
- "It's this work that I did."

"Why don't you submit if for the award."

I say I really had not thought
about wanting to publish it.

I start reading some interesting things
and then I submit it.

They asked me for the archive
and also for the letters,

but I wasn't going to do that.

I remember that it's possible
to read this publication

that is titled "Transparent",
in which the documentation

is presented
and published by Il Mulino.

Our arrangement time has ended,
although we would like to talk for hours

about this story that is a bit,
by certain passages and elements,

similar to the story
of many other families,

also of the province of Arezzo.
Perhaps there will be a way

to talk more about it in the future.
Thank you Daniele Finzi.

Thanks to all of you
who have followed our episode,

a special episode
that has been made possible

in collaboration
with The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

I naturally thank you as well.
In particular,

the archives
for this episode were made available

by Nadia Frulli.
Thank you to all of you

for watching the program.