by Giovanni Panzeri
“Zikaron BaSalon was born with the idea of transmitting important messages, the memory of the Shoah, in a familiar and informal environment” explains David Fiorentini, former UGEI president and collaborator of Mosaicpresenting the event on the occasion of Yom Hashoa, the Day of Remembrance, last Monday 6 May in the school of the Jewish Community of Milan.
During the event the Witnesses Giordano d’Urbino and Bruna Cases, author of the book On the wings of hopewho narrated, in front of a young and international audience, the terrible life in a country at war, the persecution suffered at the hands of the Nazi-Fascists, the escape to Switzerland and the uncertain situation of the refugees in the Swiss country.
The interview was followed by a discussion on the need for find new ways of narrating the Shoah following the progressive disappearance of the Witnesses, addressing in particular the new generations.
The debate involved representatives of various Jewish and Israeli realities, including Yair Danzigrepresentative of Bnei Akiva, Nimrod Ophirfor Hashomer Hatzair e Daniela Dana Tedeschi, president of the Sons of the Shoah association.
The evening was organized on the initiative ofJewish Agencyand opened with speeches by Sylvia Sabbadini, president of Adei Wizo, and vice president of the Milanese Jewish Community, Ilan Boni.
“I thank Bruna Cases, who was treasurer of theGoodbye Wizo – explained Sylvia Sabbadini – Wizo, born before the founding of Israel, is among the first organizations for women’s rights in the region. She has always been involved in training workers and allowing mothers to work, founding and managing nurseries. Furthermore, it has always provided aid and refuge, first to the victims of the Shoah, and today to those displaced by the conflict with Hezbollah and Hamas”.
“It’s wonderful to see so many associations working together – declared Ilan Boni – it’s a wonderful thing to finally see everyone working in the same direction. It means that we have understood that the Enemy (ed. anti-Semitism) we must face it together, and we can defeat it by emphasizing what unites us and letting go of the few things that divide us.”
War, persecution and exile
The word then passed to Bruna Cases who described her childhood after the promulgation of the racial laws, and the chain of events that led a nine-year-old girl to write a diary, which later became the book Swings of hope.
“In 1938 I was 4 years old, so I didn’t feel directly involved, even though I perceived a tense family environment – said Bruna Cases – my father was a lawyer and was forced to stop working. When I started going to school, I began to understand. It was a difficult period, there was war, there were bombings, and going out was very dangerous because when the siren sounded you had to seek refuge. In ’42 we took refuge in Parma, where I couldn’t go to school since there was only one other Jewish girl.”
“The shock, however, came on September 8, 1943 – continued Cases – That was the moment I became an adult. I saw the Germans arriving and the Italian soldiers trying to escape throwing their uniforms, I heard shooting in a barracks near us and a Jewish family who lived in Parma disappeared into thin air… they had been taken. We returned to Milan and hid in our grandparents’ house, because we thought they wouldn’t come to take elderly people.”
“Later we tried to escape to Switzerland – the Witness continued – Through some of our friends we managed to get in touch with the smugglers. There were 11 of us in total including my mother and my sisters, they locked us in a pickup truck and took us to a farmhouse. We spent three nights there before they picked us up, and I started writing my diary there. We crossed the border at night, after the smugglers had cut the fence marking the border. The soldiers passed by and shined a light on my foot. I still don’t know if they didn’t notice us or if they let us go. We reached customs and they finally accepted us, but it was a moment of great tension. Even though I was nine years old, I knew that at that moment our lives were being decided.”
Giordano d’Urbino he began his speech by recalling how today it is at least ironic to greet each other by wishing ‘Shalom’, peace, given that “the world is far from peace. There are two wars going on, a terrible one in Ukraine and a very terrible one in Gaza. Very terrible as it was fought between opponents who do not recognize and respect each other. A war that began with the terrible act of October 7th, and no one knows how it will end.”
The Witness therefore connects to the conflict of that time. “There was war in Milan – he said – a terrible war, there were bombings… and the flying fortresses, with their terrifying roar which remained etched in my memory for years. The city was semi-destroyed, at least 50%. Even today when I pass by Piazza Cavour I remember the smell of the corpses, buried under the rubble by the hundreds, or even thousands. A period of cold, misery and hunger for everyone, not just for us… and of fear.”
“We too were displaced – continued d’Urbino. – We hid in a small village outside Milan, to escape the bombings. THEOn 30 November 1943 we discovered from Radio London that the following day they would give the order for the arrest and deportation of all Jews. We were saved because the two carabinieri who were supposed to take us to the barracks, who evidently didn’t like the idea of arresting women and children, told us that ‘they would arrest us tomorrow’. In a very Italian way they made us understand that we had to run away, pretending to carry out their duty. That same night, helped by the farmers, we escaped hidden on a farm wagon, then arrived on foot at the Swiss border. We spent days in the mountains, in December, in the cold.”
“The night we ran away, I was 12 years old – recalled d’Urbino – and I was dying of shame. I was dying of shame at running away like a thief, without having done anything wrong. There I first conceived the idea that Jews must learn to defend themselves.”
A feeling reinforced by bullying and the semi-detention situation experienced in refugee ‘concentration’ camps in Switzerland. The exiles, who included not only Jews but also political refugees and fleeing soldiers, were suspected of espionage by the Swiss authorities, who lived in fear of provoking a Nazi attack.
“My religious education in Judaism began in Switzerland. What struck me most in the Torah – concluded d’Urbino – was the concept of having to help the stranger ‘since you were strangers in the land of Egypt’. A mentality that teaches you to think against the grain: you have received evil, you must do good. Even today, when we leave the house, we see poor people begging, trying to be welcomed into Italy. Maybe after having fled countries at war, from poverty, through journeys in which many of them lost their lives. When I see these people, I see myself, and I believe that we all must identify with them because we were once them. We have been persecuted and, for this reason, we must help the persecuted.”
Passing on the memory, involving young people
The interview was followed by a debate, open to the public and informal, in true style Zikaron BaSalon.
The interventions focused on the need to pass on the memory of the Shoah, and to find new ways of involving young people.
Yair Danzig, from Bnei Akiva, he described the interest in the Shoah and the history of the Jewish people found during his work among non-Jewish young people, but also the resistance of parents to his interventions in schools. She then cautioned the audience about the fact that in Italy the ancient anti-Semitism is still very present, even if for now it smolders under the ashes, describing the savage beating of which the over seventy-year-old father was the victim during the Covid period. An attack still unpunished.
“We must think of a more creative way of involving young people – he said – because they are the ones who will have the task of telling stories in the future”.
Nimrod Ofir’s speech instead focused on the activities of Hashomer Hatzair, which organizes annual remembrance trips to Poland with groups of young people and adults. These journeys, says Ofir, do not only serve to reveal places of suffering and persecution. In fact, they begin in Krakow and end in Warsaw, showing travelers the richness of Jewish life and culture before the Shoah, and the places of Jewish resistance. “As a Jewish community we must learn to defend ourselves and live with that resilience which allows us to move forward – said Ofir – this is the message we must carry forward to involve the new generations”.
To conclude the debate David Fiorentini passed the floor to president of the Sons of the Shoah association, Daniela Dana Tedeschi, which in collaboration with UGEI, gave life to “Meeting Memory”, a project aimed at train kids to enable them to organize meetings on the topic in schools.
Dana Tedeschi involved the audience, mainly made up of young high school and university students, pushing them to reflect on what the new method should be for telling the story of the Shoah, to involve their friends and peers.
“You are our hope and our future – Dana Tedeschi reminded him – and it may seem strange to you, but the point is not to defeat anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism will last as long as the Jews last. The point is our resilience. People focus on the suffering in the Holocaust, but the reality is that it is also a story full of life, pride and resistance. A story of people who, even in the extermination camps, fought to maintain their humanity but also their Jewish identity. These people then built our community. You have to figure out a way to involve your generation, but you have to do it while remembering the strength of these people. Don’t be afraid to show people who you are, some will hate you but you will also meet a lot of good people.”
The event concluded with the recitation of a prayer for peace and chanting of Hatikvahthe Israeli national anthem.
