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

People from Here

Welcome 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 Hector,
an industrial chemist.

The future can only smile
at Adelina and Hector.

Actually,
their future will be more turbulent

than they could have ever imagined.

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

On September 18th,
in the town of Trieste,

Benito Mussolini announced Racial Laws
for the first time,

for the defense of the race.

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

We will tell this story
of Hector and Adelina

and about the eve of the day.

We will tell it with the son
of Hector 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.

I would like to start precisely
with September 1938,

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

Hector and Adelina immediately started
to understand that there was no future

for them in that country.

To leave their country was
a difficult decision,

but one that will save their lives.

Yes, my father Hector Finzi had
very deep historical knowledge.

Also because he knew German very well.

He had two aunts, aunt Genie
and aunt Lazagudita 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 our limits were
and he also hoped

that Italy was perhaps
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 month in 1938.

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

the Racial Laws,
they decided to get married.

They were married in Milan
on December 1, 1938.

In 1938. We arrive in 1939.
- Yes.

A manifest date for many.
- Yes.

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

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

Because, in a way,
they leave well 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.

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

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

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

of Latin America.

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

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 money.

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

to put towards this large sum.

I still remember two leather bags
with thousands of stars inside.

They were gold stars.

Okay, at this point, they reach 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 Jaffa on April 6, 1939.

Yes, because by 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 harm, the political one,
was directed by the Arab agency.

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

Those who arrived
in Tel Aviv on April 7th,

were in school learning modern Hebrew
twenty days after arriving,

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

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

Therefore, 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...

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

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

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

- Yes.
...Italy.

Having to leave Italy was strenuous.
- Yes.

In regard to this,
I would also read an excerpt

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

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

at which he abandoned Italy.

We will read from 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 withdrawing me.

"They were whispered in room 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 skilled political views.

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

"the country was generally recognized."

Okay, so Hector felt betrayed by Italy?

Without a doubt.

As I was saying prior,
also because my father was from Trieste.

He had gotten from his father,
my grandfather, an irredentist

and nationalist education.

Trieste...
- Of course.

...had always been divided
between people from Trieste

instead of irredentists,
those who love Italy, Italian culture,

Italian language,
like my grandfather and Slovenians.