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 worked

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

than 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 was
was a difficult decision to make.

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

Yes, Ettore Finzi, my father,

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, in July 1938,

when the Race Manifesto was published,

he didn't expect it.

He knew what it was about,
although he hoped

that Italy would be
a little different than 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 and now 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 way,

they leave informed.

Yes and no.
The problem is immediate

and that of money.

Because the White Paper of the British,

from perhaps February
or March of 1939,

had mandated
a total of 75,000 Jews

that could 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 Palestine.

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 a large sum

of money from the lawyer's clients.

And I still remember two leather bags

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

At this point, they reach Palestine.
A tangent 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 Jewish agency.

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

Okay,
so they arrived in Tel Aviv

on April 7th.

Twenty days later they were
in school learning modern Hebrew,

because there were various Jews
in Tel Aviv

from every part of Europe.

So it was necessary
to learn this common language.

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

In any case, where they 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 in 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 about condolences

"and they ended up
only making me withdraw.

"They were whispered conversations,

"only because they knew me
and they valued 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."

So Ettore felt betrayed by Italy?

Without a doubt.
Also because, as I was saying prior,

my father was from Trieste.

From his father, my grandfather,

he also received an irredentist
and nationalist upbringing.

Trieste had always been divided

between people from Trieste, Austria...

Let's say Austriacanti.

Rather than irredentists,
who loved Italy, the Italian culture,

the 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 draws attention

to 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)

(Interview talking)
- Like saying living today like yesterday.

In other words,
the lack of personal responsibility

and this...
Well yes, accepting anything,

like a leader or a guide,
that which is of

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 the very moment
in which Mussolini showed his cruelty

towards Jews, who were Italian,
and felt as such,

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

At the point,
everyone was inclined

to accept the rule of Fascism.

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 are about to start.

They leave behind the errors of the war,

however, as it is 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 family,

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.

Then my mom,
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 need

to work to support the family.

He also liked the idea

of having money to freely spend.
(Laughter)

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

in Palestine.
- Yes.

Your father Ettore, 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 foreign lands,
and the only point of contact

between these two people becomes
the writing,

the letters
that will then become so important

for documenting, for their memories.
- Yes.

In fact, my father accepted
this two year contract

with the Iranian company.

He was in Abadan in Persia.

And indeed it was a military zone.

He did his work there
as an industrial chemist.

Naturally, he had to detach
and leave his wife

and 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 any job.

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,
relations 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.
- (Interviewer) Of course.

They were things one absolutely knew
but I didn't know

the letters even 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

from Abadan in February 23, 1945:

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

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

"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 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.

I would have said the same.
But, quite the opposite

because my father,
due to having been betrayed by Italy,

deeply desired to return to Italy.

Apart from the experience in Abadan,

also because life
in Palestine was truly very hard

and 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.
In other words,

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,
there continuously remained

the hope of returning to Italy.

And how did Adelina live
with the hope of returning?

I will read another significant passage:

"I will never ask who is taking that step.
Here I undoubtedly feel 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."

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

There was a sense of pride
of returning to Italy,

that country that had dismissed them,
in order to guarantee

a future for you children.

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 suggested
to my mom the idea

of us converting to Catholicism,

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

Then, meanwhile,
the Finzi of Trieste were

almost completely assimilated.

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

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

They came from the Parrdo lineage,

which was 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 resolve...
- (Interviewer) 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,
when it was known what was happening

in Europe with the extermination camps
or some other difficult situation,

they absolutely didn't know
where my paternal

and maternal grandparents were.

However, the news arrived,

even betraying the origin and...

(Interviewer) It was quite heavy.
- Yes, very heavy.

Speaking of, 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?

Above all, how did they also live
with these dual feelings?

Because, on the one hand,
there was this hope

of being able to return
to a normal life in Italy one day.

On the other hand,
there was a lot of fear

also for the fate of loved ones.

They knew everything.

Both about the Jewish agency
and about the British.

The news arrived quite detailed.

I don't want to forget

that there was 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 that said

that they made it known in great deal
what was going to happen.

So, they knew about everything
that was coming

to Italy and Europe.

The concerns were precisely

that my paternal grandparents,

who later died in Auschwitz,
didn't...

The last official news was transmitted
by a type of telegram

by the Red Cross
in July of 1943.

My father knew absolutely nothing.

My mom didn't know either.

She knew that her parents were in hiding.

Her brother was in Switzerland.

But they had absolutely no news.

They couldn't say or write anything,

because the mail was altered.

Both the outgoing
and the incoming mail was altered.

I found that some of the letters...

(Interviewer talking)
- Yes, details.

They were deleted
by the person that made the changes.

So, dad needed to be attentive,
because they were altered by the British.

They were altered by the Persians.
(Laughter)

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.

Being far
from what was happening in Europe.

Far from the war.

For a moment, Adelina perhaps had hoped,
from what Ledi writes,

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.

Having high hopes is often the last idea.
They did have hope.

They hadn't had detailed news,

even though then my dad's brother,
who was...

He was a doctor who lived in Bologna,

but in the mountain area
of Monghidoro and Loiano.

He knew
that his parents had been arrested

and had been deported.

However, he had not communicated anything.
Even though assuming,

that they went to Auschwitz,
there could have always been

the hope of their return
Therefore, they hoped.

Unfortunately, however,
the terrible news arrived.

They also 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 about it."

It's terrible.
Unfortunately, they were effects

(Interviewer) of what just happened
in the war in Europe.

(Daniele) In a letter separate
from the international cross.

(Interviewer) Maybe in that exact moment
is when Ettore and Adelina understood

what they had escaped from?

Yes without a doubt.
I will also tell you

that when dad had
the great idea of going to Palestine,

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

because they said:
"You are always pessimistic".

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

However,
we can say that 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, if you allow me...
(Interviewer) Sure.

But before the communication

about the deaths of his parents,

he received communication from Sweden

that said his sister had been 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
because the Red Army was coming.

Since they didn't want them to see

a mass of prisoners in Auschwitz,
they were moved.

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 helped him obtain
a job at his work in Sansepolcro.

He spoke with Mr. Marco Vittoni,
who said:

"I am willing to hire your brother
because he is a chemist.

"Also, I want a change of pace
for the company, etc".

But when we arrived in Italy in May 1946,

with a short stop in Bologna
and then to Parma

with my maternal grandparents,

and then to Sansepolcro precisely

in November of 1946,
we had absolutely nothing.

And there was nothing...
(Laughter)

(Interviewer) Without a doubt,
a country in devastation.

Yes, a country in devastation.

I remember the pathway 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 dad rented
a furnished apartment

in Saint Claire Square
in which the conditions were really...

Insecure.
- Very insecure.

But they were young
and they wanted to start over.

There was my sister and myself.

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.

were against the idea
of the Racial Laws.

No, absolutely not.

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

resentment is useless.

I was taught
that it's best to let things go,

move forward,

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.

(Interviewer talking)
- Yes.

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,
the epistolary

of Ettore Finzi and Adelina 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 and in August,

I was ready to let go
of the apartment.

By chance, I found a bag in his office,

a leather one with straps
that holds 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 was his diary.

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:
"Listen,

"there are 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 gradually began
to read them with a bit of fear.

Because with diaries and letters...
- (Interviewer) 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 any references.

Then I gradually began
to transcribe these letters.

I can't tell you how I did so,
because they were written...

(Interviewer) No doubt handwritten.

Yes, handwritten with a fountain pen,
on tissue paper,

because back then it was airmail paper.

In short,
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

the copy or, in other words,
the full version

of this diary, of these letters.

Just to be certain...
I was already collaborating

with the diary archives
for some time for my own research

in the topics of Rinisci, Paganini, etc.

Just to be certain,
I went to Pieve Santo Stefano

and I had the volume in hand.

It was Cristina Cangi,
who you will meet.

And she asked me:
"What is that professor"?

"It's work that I did".
- "Why don't you submit it for the award"?

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

Then I start reading
some very 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.

It's possible
to read this publication

that is titled Transparenti,
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 similar,
by certain passages and elements,

to the story
of many other families.

Also similar to 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 was made possible

in collaboration
with The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

I naturally thank The Archives.

The archives
for this episode were made available

by Nadia Frulli.

Thank you to all of you
for watching the program.