Special Holocaust Series: “If you are not indifferent, things can be different.”
Part 3: Movie screening and discussion
The movie-documentary will be followed by discussion led by author Elizabeth Bettina and Vincent Marmorale, president of Italy and the Holocaust Foundation.
Would you risk your life to save a stranger and never talk about it? My Italian Secret tells the story of cycling idol Gino Bartali, Dr. Giovanni Borromeo, Monsignor Schivo, Mercedes Virgili, the Virgili family and other courageous Italians who carried out ingenious schemes to rescue Jews, partisans and refugees from Nazi-occupied Italy.
Celebrated as a Tour de France champion, Gino Bartali’s most daring triumph came when he risked his life to save Italian Jews by smuggling fake identification documents in the frame of his bicycle. Dr. Borromeo invented a fictitious disease to scare the SS away from the hospitals where he was hiding Jews. Monsignor Schivo hid a mother and daughter in a convent, dressed as nuns. The Virgili family and the entire town of Secchiano (Rimini) maintained the secret of a German family hidden in plain sight. These people reflect the efforts of thousands of Italians who risked their lives to save others.
You will see Italian run concentration camps and how they differ from those administered by the Nazi’s. A camp located Campagna (Salerno) housed Jews in a former convent. The Jews had a synagogue and were able to practice their religion. In Ferramonti di Tarsia (Calabria) children are in school. As an entire continent was engulfed in genocide, more than 80 percent of Italy’s Jews survived. The film is narrated by Isabella Rossellini, with Robert Loggia as the voice of Gino Bartali.
If you missed Parts 1 and 2 of the “If you are not indifferent, things can be different” four-part series, watch it on demand via Casa Belvedere’s website:
Click here for Part One: “It Happened in Italy – Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust” presented by author Elizabeth Bettina.
Click here for Part Two: Primo Levi, a Holocaust survivor committed to keep alive the narrative of the Holocaust, lest we forget. Presented by Prof. Francesco Bonavita.
Part 4: Meet the survivors and their families in June :date TBD
Doors open at 7:30 for check in. Reservations with pre-payment required.
Presented in partnership with:
