GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA

International Holocaust Remembrance Day to be commemorated in New York on January 27 and 28

NEW YORK, NY – January 16, 2008 – Centro Primo Levi jointly with the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute is promoting a series of programs and city events to commemorate the victims of the Nazi extermination camps.

Between 1938 and 1945 European Nazi and Fascist regimes, and the people who supported them, annihilated millions of Jews and thousands of homosexuals, handicapped, mentally ill, and gypsies, they had labeled as “stranger,” “unwanted,” and “subhuman”. Prejudice and racial hatred put a halt to the lives of millions of individuals and devastated the societies in which this crime was perpetrated.

On January 27, 1945 the Soviet Army entered and liberated the extermination camp of Auschwitz, starting the beginning of the liberation process.

January 27, at 5 pm at the Center for Jewish History –

15 West 16 Street, NYC, Centro Primo Levi will premiere “The Island of Roses. The Tragedy of a Paradise” a documentary film by Rebecca Samonà (59' in Italian with English subtitles). Through the memories of women including her mother, the author reconstructs the life and annihilation of the Jews of Rhodes from the beginning of the Italian colonization in 1912, to the deportation to Auschwitz in 1944. Combining era footage with a delicate personal commentary, Samon à offers a glimpse into a centuries-old culture, which a handful of survivors infused into a younger generation that is today scattered around the world. Andrea Fiano (journalist) will interview Stella Levi, survivor from Rhodes, on her experience of the anti-semitic persecutions and the extermination camps. Reservations can be made by e-mail only at memoria@primolevicenter.org.

The full program is available at www.primolevicenter.org

On January 28, between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm the pedestrian traffic on Park Avenue at 68th Street, in front of the Consulate General of Italy will be interrupted by a public reading of the names of the Jews deported from Italy and the Italian territories. The reading is sponsored by a committee including, Governor Mario and Matilda Cuomo, the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute, Centro Primo Levi, and the Italian academic institutions in New York.

The list of the names of the Jews deported from Italy and the former Italian territories was compiled and made available by the Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea, Milano - www.cdec.it

On January 30 at 6:00 pm at the Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue, NYC a program on women and the memory of the Holocaust will feature a reading from the memoirs of Piera Sonnino, Giuliana Tedeschi e Rosetta Loy by actress Maria Tucci, and a panel with Marianne Hirsh (Columbia University), Millicent Marcus (Yale University) and Stella Levi (Centro Primo Levi).

The Italian Academy at Columbia University and the Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimó at New York University will join the commemoration with two symposia respectively held on January 29 at 5:30 pm and February 5 at 6:30 pm. The Italian Academy will explore the instauration of the Racial Laws in Italy with Alexander Stille and Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimó will present a new book by Italian historian Michele Battini entitled “The Missing Italian Nuremberg. Cultural Amnesia and Postwar Politics” (Palgrave: 2007). The author will be introduced by Tony Judt (Remarque Institute, NYU).

Historical Background on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In the year 2000, January 27, the day on which, in 1945, the Soviet army entered and liberated Auschwitz, was chosen by Italy and other European countries to commemorate the victims of the Shoah and to promote the fight against racism. The commemoration was initially supported and ratified by the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, Research, chaired at the time by France; the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust; and the European Minister of Education. In 2006 it was observed for the first time by the United Nations, and has become a day of observance in all European countries.

On Tuesday, November 1, 2005 the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution introduced by Israel and designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In doing so, the assembly urged the nations of the world to observe the day so that future generations will be spared acts of genocide. Co-sponsored by 104 other states, the resolution rejects Holocaust denial and encourages countries to develop educational programs about the horrors of genocide. It also condemns religious intolerance, incitement, harassment, or violence based on ethnic origin or religious belief.