Articles by: B. G.

  • Life & People

    NYC. Remembrance Day

    Often the narrower the focus the more personal it becomes, especially when one is faced with humanity’s biggest tragedies. When a city, or a community gathers together with intent to recall the past, this simple act of remembrance becomes an action and takes new shape, and even if it reminds us of death, in a way it celebrates life.  

    There is a very famous scene in Steven Spielberg movie Schindler’s List that speaks louder than words: on the black and white screen, one little girl is wearing a bright red coat. Although she is a minor character in the movie, she is also a metaphor for the individual, as in a later scene among the pile of clothes of the grey mass of people, of the hundreds of fallen men, lays her little red coat and the viewer is reminded of that one specific person. The viewer remembers one color, one name: an individual.

    Every year New York honors every single Italian Jew, every family who lost someone, every name. It is a service that brings together the most disparate community, and it always makes sends shivers down everyone’s spine, for it is as personal as seeing a piece of clothing in a Holocaust museum or other real images of the horrors of the time.  Repeating a name ties in closely with the Jewish idea that a person’s name and their soul are closely interconnected.

    Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on January 27th, the day on which in 1945 Auschwitz was liberated. This year, the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony will be held on January 28th at the Consulate General of Italy on Park Avenue. Between 9 am and 4 pm religious leaders of different faiths, politicians, members of various Jewish organizations and NY institutions, as well as children from the Guglielmo Marconi school and other Jewish schools will alternate in reading the endless list of names of those killed. Everyone is invited to line up and read the names or just pause and listen.

    To this day it is difficult to grasp the atrocity, the rational planning that went in trying to annihilate an entire “race,” the calculated industrial way of killing human beings, the lowest moment in dignity of the 20th century.

    America became the primary Promised Land for those who escaped or survived the Holocaust, and it is futile to reiterate how much Jews have contributed to this country. At the same time it is always important to focus on the uniqueness of the many Italian Jews, their culture, traditions and history, for which Centro Primo Levi remains the prominent institution in NY for research and also the source for information on the following events.

    There are many other events related to the Holocaust and which can deepen one’s understanding of Shoah. During these events one can hear interesting stories or point of views, remember important figures or explore the cultural and artistic mindset of Italian Jews in connection to those dark times.

    The documentary Il Ragazzo di Via Sacchi will be screened at the Italian Cultural Institute on January 24th (at 6pm). It’s a film about a young man who joined the anti-Fascist Resistance.

    At Calandra Institute on January 31st there will be a discussion on the very controversial topic of a memorial built in Italy dedicated to a war criminal, Fascist Commander Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani and on the complex issue of Italian colonies.

    The iconic witness of the horrors of the Shoah is Primo Levi, author of “If This is A Man,” in which he details his experiences in the concentration camps. This is a book that should be a mandatory read in order to get the entire picture of the history of the Shoah in Italy. 

    Also, a good starting point would be the event at Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò, where on February 5th there will be a fascinating panel discussion on the book “The History of the Shoah in Italy,” with documents and historical essays on Italian racial laws, the European situation and the persecution.

    Another recommendation is a panel at Columbia University on February 7th, focusing on the scientific experiments of the Nazis on the disabled, starting with forced sterilizations and the medical practices for those who didn’t fit perfect genetic criteria. Operation t4 involved Physicians and psychiatrist who created lethal injections, until carbon monoxide gas was found a more effective and faster method.

    Jewish culture is now alive and strong, and although Jewish people are losing their last Holocaust survivors they are not losing their spirit and rich history.

    This year, once again, in January, it’s important to remember every single life, for every single life counted. In the Talmud there is a saying that goes: “Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world.”

    January 24 at 6:00 pm
    IL RAGAZZO DI VIA SACCHI (2011) a documentary film by Francesco Momberti
    Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue, NYC
    Post-screening discussion: Guri Schwarz (University of Pisa) and Tullio Levi (former president of the Jewish Community of Turin)
    January 28 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
    REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY
    Reading of the names of the Jews deported from Italy and Italian territories. Consulate General of Italy, 690 Park Avenue at 68th Street
    January 31 at 6:30 pm
    REHABILITATING WAR CRIMINALS. THE MONUMENT TO RODOLFO GRAZIANI
    Calandra Italian American Institute at CUNY
    24 West 43rd Street, 17th fl.
    Lidia Santarelli (Brown University), Yemane Demissie (New York University). Moderator: Andrea Fiano (journalist and former Chairman of CPL). Respondent Dr. Girma Abebe, Former Counselor, (Ethiopian Delegation to the UN).

    February 5 at 6:30 pm
    THE SHOAH IN ITALY: BEYOND NATIONAL MYTHOLOGY
    Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò, 24 West 12th Street, NYC
    Enzo Traverso (Cornell University) and Susan Zuccotti (author of The Italians and the Holocaust). Respondent Franklin Hugh Adler (Macalester College)
    February 7 at 5:30 pm
    Italian Academy at Columbia University
    Amsterdam Avenue bet. 116 & 118 St.
    THE “UNFIT”. DISABILITY UNDER NAZISM AND FASCISM

  • Life & People

    MAMMA MIA! Why Do Italians Put Up with Berlusconi?

    The timing might have not been more perfect for a book to come out. As we speak these might be the last days of Berlusconi’s power and even if they are not, the decline is now tangible and his “era,” his influence have definitely ended.

    In this new light, Mamma Mia (Beppe Severgnini) - that started out as a contemporary satire - could become a point of reference for Italy’s political “history.”

    Who is Berlusconi? It would be interesting as an experiment to go around the US and ask this question that would reveal a lot about what crosses over and what doesn’t.
     

    It’s obvious that most articles by the “foreign press” – even with the best journalistic background or intentions – are bound to either just scrape the surface, fall into some misunderstanding trying to contextualize another culture, or in the best case scenario (like the New York Times) have really ground-breaking details and reports but that might not have follow-ups for months.
     

    That’s why it's so hard to explain to the rest of the world, who Berlusconi is, why he’s in power; it’s almost impossible to translate the irony, nuances and opinions that go with the simple mention of his name in a modern Italian household. The confusion stems also from the fact that Italy is a first world country, with democracy, freedom, human rights, a high life-style and a lot of educated people but lately because of its leader it comes out (justifiably so in most cases) as a hedonistic dangerous place, where freedom is limited by a sex-driven dictator who has lost his mind in a series of extravagant parties. It’s true that Berlusconi to an extent, does have control of what comes out or not in the press, that he has changed the legal system and certain laws to his advantage, that he can fire someone he doesn’t like, without a solid opposition, and yet he’s a “regular” guy, and Italy is not Libya or Iran: those people who get fired don’t get banned, killed and they can always make a comeback or have their political space.
     

    Therefore the truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle.
     

    The hardest information to grasp from abroad are Berlusconi’s actual political and financial crimes for the last twenty-thirty years: corruption, money-laundering, abuse of power, accuses for which in the US even a small-town mayor wouldn’t have been able to be in charge. That’s why the ongoing question in international circles is: “How do Italians put up with him?”

    The answer might be that Italians like him more that what they want to believe as he has convinced most of them that “he’s just like them.” And Italians seem to have accepted it so far because who doesn’t have conflicting interests? Who doesn’t want to just close one eye in certain situations but fight for others? It’s that blend of political relentlessness and Catholic forgiveness that somehow still pervades most Italians.
     

    Beppe Severgnini, columnist of the prominent Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and of The Financial Times examines the issue through a satirical and yet analytical lens of satire of what he described with a prompt joke a “tycoon turned into an escape artist.”
     

    At an event, organized by Stefano Albertini and Sally Fischer PR, at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò (NYU), along with Jacob Weisberg, Editor-in-Chief of Slate Magazine and author of “The Bush tragedy,” the book was discussed and examined in details, prompting laughter and reflection.
     

    Severgnini came up with 10 reasons for Berlusconi’s rise to power and political influence, all categories that tackle aspect of his personality or way of presenting himself (The Human Factor, the Divine Factor, the Robinson Factor, the Truman Factor, the Hoover Factor, the Zelig Factor, the Harem Factor, the Medici Factor, the T.I.N.A. Factor, and the Palio Factor). These factors are according to the author “some of the best and much of the worst of what Italians are” but they embody what Berlusconi represents and why he was popular with the masses and not the Leftist “elite.” The Left, in fact, almost underestimated his “intelligence” of someone who knows how TV works and in Severgnini’s words someone who’s “Juan Peron mixed with Putin, Frank Sinatra and Danny de Vito.”
     

    There’s the Berlusconi that stirs that soccer-like mentality of one faction against the other (The Oalio factor) where one prides himself on the opponent losing and not on the good pragmatic reasons for winning or making change; there’s the Berlusconi that shifts appearance, personality and interests according to where he is (Zelig factor); the Berlusconi that works to his advantage the most ancient political system in Italy “the Signoria” (all other systems were imported), a code of conduct in which the signore and his servants, clients and although everyone complains there’s always the hope that the signore would be kind just to us. Even if he’s richer than the masses Severgnini’s thesis is that Berlusconi’s strength so far has been that “he’s a follower, not a leader.”
     

    In some ways it’s not far-fetched to say that he taps into a collective unconscious that begins with Berlusconi's desire to be loved which is at the core of all his actions: young women who live in small suburban towns, called up by the Prime Minister to Rome not necessarily only for sexual favors but just to sit and watch DVDs of him meeting the most important world leaders, to hear them say “You are so important.”
     

    Berlusconi shifts language according to his passions and the person he’s talking to. He can have a “locker room,” male-bonding type of language as well as the most formal and refined elocutions.
     

    He comes from a trader’s background, he knows how to sell stuff, how to get what he wants. People identify with his love of women, sports and easy living. Even if he didn’t own the majority of media in Italy (newspapers, TV networks, etc.) - which he does - he would still be able to mold people’s imagination through his personal story.
     

    Although I find these categories perfect to explain the phenomenon, I don’t know if I would completely agree with how Italians are “to the core” (maybe that’s a bit of national pride), but I’m young…and that’s a very important detail….
     

    Towards the end of the lecture Severgnini talked about his 19 years old son.
     

    He said that for his son Berlusconi is like “the walk-man of politics;” he’s less and less of an example and these categories belong to a different generational mindset. I’m not saying this makes us automatically more idealistic, or better, but one can’t ignore that is simply a different one. In the same way the Internet is different from TV.
     

    We don’t watch TV - not as much as in the past - we constantly gather contradicting information from Google or the wonderful social and political agora that Facebook can become. The effect that Berlusconi had on the masses 10 years ago, nowadays would be diminished by half. Young kids today (as much as people will always blame cultural icons or TV) actually have a very different attitude and these socio-political or human categories are very distant.
     

    Our idea of the job market (even because of the crisis) is much more borderless and not Medicean, we get to see more things faster and therefore we have less awe for someone who has made it to the top in a “old school” kind of way. We admire high-tech geniuses who have always though outside of the box. Ideologies and factions are becoming slogans shouted out in the 1960s and not filters through which we define every aspect of our life (and in Italy politics are so important that still there are people who hang out only with those who think like them or take decisions based on their political beliefs).
     

    Kids get to see political debates held in the US and how different the campaigns are, how many more rules and checks and balances are there to make sure nothing goes too overboard, they get to follow foreign presidents on a regular basis that make compromises without constantly slandering his adversaries. They get to create a software, edit a video in a few minutes and figure out first hand how powerful it can be on others.
     

    Although the catholic mindset is still very much there, obviously we are moving further.

    Instead of Berlusconi’s vulgar jokes we are much more likely to note down this Steve Jobs’ quote: Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me.

  • Events: Reports

    Voices from the Italian Shoah. Reading Testimonies

    Since the end of World War II, non-Jewish and Jewish historians, survivors, writers, poets, moviemakers and musicians have all contributed to preserve the memory of the Fasci-Nazist persecutions against the Jews of Europe. They kept the memory of Holocaustum alive in people's minds for several generations up to these days. They did it in the most creative ways, through books, videos,paintings, films, conferences and seminaries.

     
    In occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27),  the Primo Levi Center, located at the Center for Jewish History in NYC,  will host a reading from the book "Il Libro della Shoah Italiana"  (The Book of the Italian Shoah), a work edited by Marcello Pezzetti with the contribution of the CDEC Foundation - Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation).
     
    Pezzetti's project is a collection of stories of over a hundred Italian Jews who report memories of their daily life, family, jobs and relationships before the deportation. They also report on their personal experiences during the war,  on the circumstances of their deportation to Auschwitz or on how they miraculously survived living the country and, most importantly, on  how they managed to go back to a normal life afterwards.
     
    More or less 9000 people were deported from the main Italian cities. On January 27 Robert Zukerman and Antoinette La Vecchia will read some of their stories accompanied by the music of Steve Elson, an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist musician and composer who during his career collaborated with famous artists, like David Bowie, and received various music awards.
     
     Coming from two different walks of life, the two artists will offer the audience a rich, and moving performance.
     
     

    The well-versed actor Zukerman is the Theatre Program Director for the New York State Council on the Arts.
     

    He is not new to the Primo Levi Center, having already performed in those venues works by  Karl Kraus, James Joyce, Joseph Heller and others.

    The Italian American actress Antoinette la Vecchia is currently performing on Broadway  in "A view from the Bridge" (starring Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson) and is famous for her one-woman show “How to be a good Italian daugher (in spite of myself)", a work widely praised by the critics.

    The two recently shared the stage for Howard Baker’s The Europeans at the Atlantic Second Stage.

     
    The event at the Primo Levi Center will follow the reading of the names of the Jews deported from Italy and the occupied territories, at the Consulate General of Italy (9AM-4PM).

    In Italy, the country where fascism was born, we have a particular relation with the Holocaust, but as a turning point in history it belongs to everybody in the world. It is a part of humanity.

    (Roberto Benigni)

    ........................

    January 27, 6:00 pm

    READING TESTIMONIES

    Center for Jewish History

    15 West 16th Street, NYC

    Reading from "Il Libro della Shoah Italiana"

    Edited by Marcello Pezzetti

     

  • Events: Reports

    Voices from the Italian Shoah. Reading Testimonies

    Since the end of World War II, non-Jewish and Jewish historians, survivors, writers, poets, moviemakers and musicians have all contributed to preserve the memory of the Fasci-Nazist persecutions against the Jews of Europe. They kept the memory of Holocaustum alive in people's minds for several generations up to these days. They did it in the most creative ways, through books, videos,paintings, films, conferences and seminaries.

     
    In occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27),  the Primo Levi Center, located at the Center for Jewish History in NYC,  will host a reading from the book "Il Libro della Shoah Italiana"  (The Book of the Italian Shoah), a work edited by Marcello Pezzetti with the contribution of the CDEC Foundation - Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation).
     
    Pezzetti's project is a collection of stories of over a hundred Italian Jews who report memories of their daily life, family, jobs and relationships before the deportation. They also report on their personal experiences during the war,  on the circumstances of their deportation to Auschwitz or on how they miraculously survived living the country and, most importantly, on  how they managed to go back to a normal life afterwards.
     
    More or less 9000 people were deported from the main Italian cities. On January 27 Robert Zukerman and Antoinette La Vecchia will read some of their stories accompanied by the music of Steve Elson, an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist musician and composer who during his career collaborated with famous artists, like David Bowie, and received various music awards.
     
     Coming from two different walks of life, the two artists will offer the audience a rich, and moving performance.
     
     

    The well-versed actor Zukerman is the Theatre Program Director for the New York State Council on the Arts.
     

    He is not new to the Primo Levi Center, having already performed in those venues works by  Karl Kraus, James Joyce, Joseph Heller and others.

    The Italian American actress Antoinette la Vecchia is currently performing on Broadway  in "A view from the Bridge" (starring Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson) and is famous for her one-woman show “How to be a good Italian daugher (in spite of myself)", a work widely praised by the critics.

    The two recently shared the stage for Howard Baker’s The Europeans at the Atlantic Second Stage.

     
    The event at the Primo Levi Center will follow the reading of the names of the Jews deported from Italy and the occupied territories, at the Consulate General of Italy (9AM-4PM).

    In Italy, the country where fascism was born, we have a particular relation with the Holocaust, but as a turning point in history it belongs to everybody in the world. It is a part of humanity.

    (Roberto Benigni)

    ........................

    January 27, 6:00 pm

    READING TESTIMONIES

    Center for Jewish History

    15 West 16th Street, NYC

    Reading from "Il Libro della Shoah Italiana"

    Edited by Marcello Pezzetti