“In a historical moment in which the survivors’ voice is unavoidably weaken, we must work all together not to dissipate the memory of what it was. And to foster it with a deep historic awareness”. These are the words of Lucia Azzolina, our Education’s Minister, on the occasion of the witness of Liliana Segre, a survivor from Auschwitz and a life senator. A really deep and full of emotion message is that of Segre, who met 2.000 students in Milan on the 20th of January. The invitation to beat for freedom and to stay strong and never indifferent is the focus of the intervention.
We need to remember and, above all, to understand what happened. There were 6 millions victims of the Holocaust. At the time of the Second World War, the nazis targeted the Jews but also other groups considered to be as “of inferior race” – rom, disabled and Slavic population. So, persecutions against these groups started and, more precisely, the genocide that can be qualified as an act perpetrated with the intention of destroying a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Listening to the witnesses’ voices as well as the survivors of this tragedy is more important than ever in order to have consciousness of the past events that – even if they are not lived in first person – unavoidably touch us.
A lot of Italian and European cities adhered to the project about “Stumbling blocks”, which is an iniziative born by the Dutch artist Gunter Demnig as a reaction towards the negationism. The aim is to keep alive the memory of all those who were deported in the nazis concentration and killing camps and who unfortunately didn’t come back to their houses. In particular, it is the installation of real blocks - we count more than 70.000 blocks in Europe - covered with shiny brass on the sidewalk in front of the victims’ houses of the nazis violence’s, also called National Socialist. On these blocks we can see the writing with name, date of birth, date and place of deportation and, finally, date of death of the victim. This a project that represents an invitation to reflection, to convey the values of peace, respect for diversity, fight against antisemitism, racism and xenophobia and not to forget.
Marta Annalisa Savino
Marta Annalisa Savino
Laureata magistrale in "Relazioni Internazionali", appassionata di scrittura, viaggi, lingue tra cui inglese, francese e spagnolo, politica internazionale e geopolitica. Il suo focus di interesse è sul Nord America e sui suoi rapporti con il resto del mondo. Autrice di "Framing the World.
Master's Degree in "International Relations", keen on writing, travelling, languages including english, french, spanish, international politics and geopolitics. Her focus of interest is North America and its relationship with the rest of the world. Author of "Framing the World".