DELASEM
Encyclopedia
Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants (Delegazione per l'Assistenza degli Emigranti Ebrei) or DELASEM, was a Jewish resistance organization that worked in Italy
between 1939 and 1947. It is estimated that during World War II
, DELASEM was able to distribute more than $1,200,000 dollars in aid, of which nearly $900,000 came from outside Italy.
, respectively Association Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Union of Jewish Communities in Italy. Its official purpose was to help fellow refugees and foreigners that were interned in Italy and to facilitate emigration for them.
The foreign Jewish refugees in Italy were deprived of the most basic means of subsistence. They were deprived of their right of residence on Italian soil from the racial laws of 1938 and from on June 15, 1940 were detained in concentration camps, principally Ferramonti of Tarsia
(Cosenza
).
The headquarters of DELASEM was established in Genoa under the direction of Lelio Vittorio Valobra
. Funds came mainly through Paris
from international Jewish institutions such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
, but also from the collection of funds in Italy.
The organization was legal until September 8, 1943, and received the unofficial support of some sectors of the Catholic Church. After the occupation of Paris the Swiss were to act as a liaison between the DELASEM and international charitable organizations.
To implement its objectives the DELASEM used a network of correspondents from among the fellow internees, displaced in camps and in places of internment. By a government circular
dated May 18, 1942, the fascist Ministry of Interior recalled that the activities of these correspondents were limited exclusively "for charitable purposes and formalities of emigration." Despite limitations between 1939 and 1943, DELASEM succeeded to assist more than 9,000 Jewish refugees and to help 5,000 of them to leave Italy and reach neutral countries, primarily Spain
.
Special attention was paid to children. In 1942, the "DELASEM dei Piccoli" was founded in Florence with the specific purpose of giving assistance to children internees, offering them books, medical care, toys and clothes. In the camp Ferramonti di Tarsia, they established a "children’s canteen" which helped significantly to improve the lives of infants, children interned there. At Villa Emma Nonantola
the delegate DELASEM Mario Finzi, in collaboration with Father Arrigo Beccari and the Dr. Giuseppe Moreale organized an orphanage model that welcomed for about a year a group of a hundred children from Germany
and the Balkans
.
as "foreign enemies" in November of that year by the Manifesto of Verona
, over 6,000 Jews (men, women and children) would be deported from Italy and killed in the extermination camp at Auschwitz.
Lelio Vittorio Valobra, helped by Raffaele Cantoni
and Massimo Teglio, made contact with Cardinal Pietro Boetto
, who headed the diocese of Genoa, and he instructed his secretary Father Francesco Repetto
that the work could continue and DELASEM be provided with material assistance and shelter Jews, both Italians and foreigners. The arrests and the forced flight of Valobra and Cantoni to Switzerland led DELASEM to split in half between Rome and Genoa.
, Genoa (and central funding in Switzerland) were interrupted abruptly with the arrest and flight to Switzerland of Raffaele Cantoni. The office Lungo Tevere Sanzio had to be closed but DELASEM continued to operate in Rome until the liberation under the leadership of the Jewish delegates Septimius Sorani, Giuseppe Levi, and the Capuchin
Father Maria Benedetto. The Convento dei Cappuccini (Capuchin Convent) became the headquarters of the committee and the flow of funding was restored by using the mediation of the ambassadors of Great Britain
and the United States of America at the Vatican
, and addition to Father Maria Benedetto that twice went to Genoa, returning to Rome with large sums of money.
In the nine months of Nazi occupation, aid worth was "approximately 25,000,000 lira" was distributed and "assisted more than 4,000, including 1,500 foreigners and 2,500 Italians." The Rome DELASEM was also a place to find asylum and distribute false documents.
The collaboration between Massimo Teglio (a Jewish leader) and Cardinal Pietro Boetto of the Genoa Curia functioned as the central deployment of international aid to the Jews in north-central Italy during the entire period German occupation. To maintain the entire organization with Massimo Teglio, was Father Francesco Repetto, secretary of Cardinal Boetto. Wanted by the Gestapo
in July 1944, Father Repetto, was forced to hide in the mountains, and Father Carlo Salvi will continued to work with Massimo Teglio until the Liberation.
(until his arrest and deportation) and Giorgio Nissim (that continued to operate in Tuscany
throughout the war period) and a group of priests for which Father Repetto dispose a precise program of travel to deploy funds received from Switzerland.
Archbishop Giovanni Cicali reached several locations, including Florence and Arezzo
. Father Giovanni De Micheli went to Penne
, Teramo
, Chieti
, Ascoli Piceno
, Macerata
and San Severino Marche
. Father Alessandro Piazza (which was then Bishop of Albenga
) reached Brescia
and then Como
. Father Gian Maria Rotondi went to Siena
, Grosseto
, Lucca
and Pescia
. Father Carlo Salvi went to Verona, Rovigo
, Belluno
, Treviso
and Vittorio Veneto
. Father Traverso Natale went to Turin
and Assisi
. Father Raffaele Storace reached first Asti
and then Aosta
, Susa
, , Ivrea
, Alba
and Pinerolo
. Father Giuseppe Viola visited the community of Mondovì
, Cuneo
and Fossano
.
All these journeys and the delivery of funds had precise documentation with receipts of Cardinals, bishops and pastors, and the amounts delivered on behalf of Cardinal Boetto.
Even amid many difficulties, DELASEM showed great effectiveness in providing assistance for the maintenance, housing, and in many cases the illegal emigration to Switzerland of some 35,000 Italian and foreign Jews who survived persecution in Italy. Genoa, Rome, Turin, Milan, Assisi, Florence, Lucca, Borgo San Dalmazzo were some of the centers in which DELASEM succeeded to operate more effectively.
To manage DELASEM during the period of the underground were mainly Jewish:
Among non-Jews who came into contact with the DELASEM or worked for it are:
The memories of many of them are honored at Yad Vashem
as that of the “Righteous among the Nations
.”
was captured and died at Auschwitz. The book Fields of the Duce: the civilian internment in Fascist Italy (1930–1943), of Charles Spartacus Capogreco details this escape and a television movie in 2004, The Flight of the Innocents was made by European station RAI
.
, territories then under the British mandate.
Emblematic in this respect, was the case of the ship Faith, was blocked at the port of La Spezia
in April 1946 with over one thousand Jews from Eastern Europe bound for Palestine. It took a hunger strike, allegations from The Unit (L’Unita) and the personal interest of Alcide De Gasperi to unblock this situation.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
between 1939 and 1947. It is estimated that during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, DELASEM was able to distribute more than $1,200,000 dollars in aid, of which nearly $900,000 came from outside Italy.
Organization
DELASEM was organized on December 1, 1939 as an association authorized by the Fascist government, at the initiative of Dante Almansi and by the Jewish Genoese lawyer Lelio Vittorio ValobraLelio Vittorio Valobra
Lelio Vittorio Valobra is a Jewish Italian lawyer and was the chairman of DELASEM, an exponent of the Jewish resistance. In 1935, Valobra was a leading member of the Jewish community of Genoa, and was the keynote speaker at the new synagogue in the city, stating: "The pride of being able to raise...
, respectively Association Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Union of Jewish Communities in Italy. Its official purpose was to help fellow refugees and foreigners that were interned in Italy and to facilitate emigration for them.
The foreign Jewish refugees in Italy were deprived of the most basic means of subsistence. They were deprived of their right of residence on Italian soil from the racial laws of 1938 and from on June 15, 1940 were detained in concentration camps, principally Ferramonti of Tarsia
Tarsia
Tarsia is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The ancient town of Caprasia is thought to be the modern Tarsia....
(Cosenza
Cosenza
Cosenza is a city in southern Italy, located at the confluence of two historic rivers: the Busento and the Crathis. The municipal population is of around 70,000; the urban area, however, counts over 260,000 inhabitants...
).
The headquarters of DELASEM was established in Genoa under the direction of Lelio Vittorio Valobra
Lelio Vittorio Valobra
Lelio Vittorio Valobra is a Jewish Italian lawyer and was the chairman of DELASEM, an exponent of the Jewish resistance. In 1935, Valobra was a leading member of the Jewish community of Genoa, and was the keynote speaker at the new synagogue in the city, stating: "The pride of being able to raise...
. Funds came mainly through Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
from international Jewish institutions such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is a worldwide Jewish relief organization headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries....
and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
HIAS
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was founded in 1881. The constant flow of Jewish immigrants from Russia gave birth to the society. HIAS assists Jews and other groups of people whose lives and freedom are at risk, through rescue, relocation, family reunification, and resettlement. Since its inception...
, but also from the collection of funds in Italy.
The organization was legal until September 8, 1943, and received the unofficial support of some sectors of the Catholic Church. After the occupation of Paris the Swiss were to act as a liaison between the DELASEM and international charitable organizations.
To implement its objectives the DELASEM used a network of correspondents from among the fellow internees, displaced in camps and in places of internment. By a government circular
Government circular
A Government circular is a written statement of government policy. It will often provide information, guidance, rules, and/or background information on legislative or procedural matters.-References:*...
dated May 18, 1942, the fascist Ministry of Interior recalled that the activities of these correspondents were limited exclusively "for charitable purposes and formalities of emigration." Despite limitations between 1939 and 1943, DELASEM succeeded to assist more than 9,000 Jewish refugees and to help 5,000 of them to leave Italy and reach neutral countries, primarily Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Special attention was paid to children. In 1942, the "DELASEM dei Piccoli" was founded in Florence with the specific purpose of giving assistance to children internees, offering them books, medical care, toys and clothes. In the camp Ferramonti di Tarsia, they established a "children’s canteen" which helped significantly to improve the lives of infants, children interned there. At Villa Emma Nonantola
Nonantola
Nonantola is a city and comune in the province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is located about 10 km from Modena on the road to Ferrara.-History:...
the delegate DELASEM Mario Finzi, in collaboration with Father Arrigo Beccari and the Dr. Giuseppe Moreale organized an orphanage model that welcomed for about a year a group of a hundred children from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
.
The Underground during the Italian Social Republic (1943-45)
With the Armistice of Cassibile on September 8, 1943 and the beginning of the German occupation, DELASEM went underground. Defined by the Italian Social RepublicItalian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
as "foreign enemies" in November of that year by the Manifesto of Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, over 6,000 Jews (men, women and children) would be deported from Italy and killed in the extermination camp at Auschwitz.
Lelio Vittorio Valobra, helped by Raffaele Cantoni
Raffaele Cantoni
Raffaele Cantoni was an anti-fascist Italian Jew who is best known for his efforts, perhaps daring, in saving Italian Jews from the Holocaust. He was a DELASEM executive before and during the German occupation of World War II. He was also President of the pro-Zionist UCEI or Union of Italian...
and Massimo Teglio, made contact with Cardinal Pietro Boetto
Pietro Boetto
Pietro Boetto, SJ was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1938 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935.-Biography:...
, who headed the diocese of Genoa, and he instructed his secretary Father Francesco Repetto
Francesco Repetto
Monsignor Francesco Repetto was an Italian priest and librarian. He is honored by Jews as a Righteous Among the Nations for his leading role in the clandestine DELASEM organization, which contributed to the saving of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust in Italy during the German occupation.-...
that the work could continue and DELASEM be provided with material assistance and shelter Jews, both Italians and foreigners. The arrests and the forced flight of Valobra and Cantoni to Switzerland led DELASEM to split in half between Rome and Genoa.
The Rome DELASEM
Regular contacts with RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Genoa (and central funding in Switzerland) were interrupted abruptly with the arrest and flight to Switzerland of Raffaele Cantoni. The office Lungo Tevere Sanzio had to be closed but DELASEM continued to operate in Rome until the liberation under the leadership of the Jewish delegates Septimius Sorani, Giuseppe Levi, and the Capuchin
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
Father Maria Benedetto. The Convento dei Cappuccini (Capuchin Convent) became the headquarters of the committee and the flow of funding was restored by using the mediation of the ambassadors of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the United States of America at the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, and addition to Father Maria Benedetto that twice went to Genoa, returning to Rome with large sums of money.
In the nine months of Nazi occupation, aid worth was "approximately 25,000,000 lira" was distributed and "assisted more than 4,000, including 1,500 foreigners and 2,500 Italians." The Rome DELASEM was also a place to find asylum and distribute false documents.
The DELASEM of Genoa
The flow of money between Switzerland (where Valobra and Cantoni operated) and the headquarters in Genoa always remained active due in part to the assistance of the Apostolic Nuncio in Bern, Msgr. Filippo Bernardini.The collaboration between Massimo Teglio (a Jewish leader) and Cardinal Pietro Boetto of the Genoa Curia functioned as the central deployment of international aid to the Jews in north-central Italy during the entire period German occupation. To maintain the entire organization with Massimo Teglio, was Father Francesco Repetto, secretary of Cardinal Boetto. Wanted by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
in July 1944, Father Repetto, was forced to hide in the mountains, and Father Carlo Salvi will continued to work with Massimo Teglio until the Liberation.
Links between Genoa and central and northern Italy
To act as couriers between Genoa and the Jews in central and northern Italy were Raffaele Cantoni (until his expatriation), Mario FinziMario Finzi
Mario Finzi was born in Bologna, Italy, from an Italian Jewish family: both his father Amerigo Finzi, and his mother, Ebe Castelfranchi, were teachers....
(until his arrest and deportation) and Giorgio Nissim (that continued to operate in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
throughout the war period) and a group of priests for which Father Repetto dispose a precise program of travel to deploy funds received from Switzerland.
Archbishop Giovanni Cicali reached several locations, including Florence and Arezzo
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
. Father Giovanni De Micheli went to Penne
Penne
Penne is a type of pasta with cylinder-shaped pieces. Penne is the plural form of the Italian penna, deriving from Latin penna . In Italy, penne are produced in two main variants: "penne lisce" and "penne rigate" , the latter having ridges on each penna...
, Teramo
Teramo
Teramo is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo.The city, from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines and the Adriatic coast...
, Chieti
Chieti
Chieti is a city and comune in Central Italy, 200 km northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region...
, Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno is a town and comune in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is c. 51,400.-Geography:...
, Macerata
Macerata
Macerata is a city and comune in central Italy, the capital of the province of Macerata in the Marche region.The historical city center is located on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza rivers. It consisted of the Picenes city named Ricina, then, after the romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina...
and San Severino Marche
San Severino Marche
San Severino Marche is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 50 km southwest of Ancona and about 25 km southwest of Macerata.-From prehistory to Roman age:...
. Father Alessandro Piazza (which was then Bishop of Albenga
Albenga
Albenga is a city and comune situated on the Gulf of Genoa on the Italian Riviera in the Province of Savona in Liguria, northern Italy.left|thumb|220px|Towers of Albenga.The economy is mostly based on tourism, local commerce and agriculture-History:...
) reached Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
and then Como
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
. Father Gian Maria Rotondi went to Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
, Grosseto
Grosseto
Grosseto is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain, on the Ombrone river....
, Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
and Pescia
Pescia
Pescia is an Italian city in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy.It is located in a central zone between the cities Lucca and Florence, on the banks of the homonymous river.-History:...
. Father Carlo Salvi went to Verona, Rovigo
Rovigo
Rovigo is a town and comune in the Veneto region of North-Eastern Italy, the capital of the eponymous province. -Geography:...
, Belluno
Belluno
Belluno , is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about 100 kilometres north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomiti's region. With its roughly 37,000 inhabitants, it the largest populated area...
, Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
and Vittorio Veneto
Vittorio Veneto
Vittorio Veneto is a city and comune situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of the Italian peninsula, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers.-Geography:...
. Father Traverso Natale went to Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
and Assisi
Assisi
- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...
. Father Raffaele Storace reached first Asti
Asti
Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...
and then Aosta
Aosta
Aosta is the principal city of the bilingual Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard routes...
, Susa
Susa
Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....
, , Ivrea
Ivrea
Ivrea is a town and comune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley , it straddles the Dora Baltea and is regarded as the centre of the Canavese area. Ivrea lies in a basin that, in prehistoric times, formed a great lake...
, Alba
Alba
Alba is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is cognate to Alba in Irish and Nalbin in Manx, the two other Goidelic Insular Celtic languages, as well as similar words in the Brythonic Insular Celtic languages of Cornish and Welsh also meaning Scotland.- Etymology :The term first appears in...
and Pinerolo
Pinerolo
Pinerolo is a town and comune in north-western Italy, 40 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone.-History:In the Middle Ages, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance...
. Father Giuseppe Viola visited the community of Mondovì
Mondovì
Mondovì is a town and comune of Piedmont, northern Italy, located c. 80 km from Turin....
, Cuneo
Cuneo
Cuneo is a city and comune in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the third largest of Italy’s provinces by area...
and Fossano
Fossano
Fossano is a town and comune of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of Cuneo. It is the fourth largest town of the Province of Cuneo, after Cuneo, Alba and Bra....
.
All these journeys and the delivery of funds had precise documentation with receipts of Cardinals, bishops and pastors, and the amounts delivered on behalf of Cardinal Boetto.
The organization at the local level
At a local level DELASEM, due to its contacts already established in previous years, could count on a broad and inclusive network of complicity between Jews, member of the Italian resistance, priests, citizens, simple police, officials, even some members of the German army.Even amid many difficulties, DELASEM showed great effectiveness in providing assistance for the maintenance, housing, and in many cases the illegal emigration to Switzerland of some 35,000 Italian and foreign Jews who survived persecution in Italy. Genoa, Rome, Turin, Milan, Assisi, Florence, Lucca, Borgo San Dalmazzo were some of the centers in which DELASEM succeeded to operate more effectively.
To manage DELASEM during the period of the underground were mainly Jewish:
- Raffeale Cantoni and Lelio Vittorio Valobra exiled in Switzerland; *Massimo Teglio Teglio and Rabbi Riccardo Pacifici at Genoa;
- Rabbi Nathan Cassuto and Matilde Cassin in Florence;
- Raffaele Jona in PiedmontPiedmontPiedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
- Mario Finzi in BolognaBolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
- Septimius Sorani and Joseph Levi in Rome
- The arrests and deportations (of which, among others, were Richard Pacifici, Nathan Cassuto and Mario Finzi) increased the responsibility of non-Jewish members who contributed significantly in keeping alive the flow of aid.
Among non-Jews who came into contact with the DELASEM or worked for it are:
- Bishops Pietro Boetto of Genova , Elia Dalla Costa of Florence, Giuseppe Placido Nicolini of Assisi , Maurilio Fossati of Torino , Alfredo Ildefonso *Schuster of MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, and Antonio Torrini at Lucca;
- Priests Father Francesco Repetto, Father Carlo Salvi in Genoa, Msgr. Vincenzo Barale in Turin, Fathers Leto Casini, father Cipriano Ricotti Father *Julius Facibeni, Msgr. James Meneghello and Father Enrico Bartoletti in Florence, Father Arturo Paoli in Lucca, Father Giuseppe Bicchierai in Milan, *Father Raimondo VialeRaimondo Viale"... resistance is a mature man's dowry, the man who rejects everything that is unjust, and rebels, rebels ... The Bible is full of resistance. Resistance is a sacred thing, is part of life that preserves life, and rejects everything that is contrary to human dignity and life itself " – The Just...
and Francesco Brondello at Borgo San DalmazzoBorgo San DalmazzoBorgo San Dalmazzo is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km south of Turin and about 8 km southwest of Cuneo...
, Father Arrigo Beccari Nonantola, Aldo Brunacci and Rufino Nicacci at *Assisi, Federico Vincenti in Perugia, fathers Maria Benedetto, Armando Alessandrini, Francesco Antonioli in Rome; - LaityLaityIn religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
as Claudio Lastrina, Angelo De Fiore, Odoardo Focherini, Louis and Trento Brizi, Gino BartaliGino BartaliGino Bartali, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice and the Tour de France in 1938...
, Giuseppe Moreali, Giorgio La Pira.
The memories of many of them are honored at Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
as that of the “Righteous among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
.”
The Rescue of the Children of Villa Emma
A spectacular example of the organizational capacity of the DELASEM relates to the saving of the children of Villa Emma at Nonantola. Due to the efforts of Father Arrigo Beccari and Giueseppi Moreali, in less than 36 hours upon arrival of the Germans in September 1943, more than a hundred residents of the DELASEM orphanage were hidden among the families of the area and subsequently transferred illegally to Switzerland. Only one of them who was sick, had been entrusted to a sanatoriumSanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
was captured and died at Auschwitz. The book Fields of the Duce: the civilian internment in Fascist Italy (1930–1943), of Charles Spartacus Capogreco details this escape and a television movie in 2004, The Flight of the Innocents was made by European station RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
.
The Post-war period (1945-47)
The nuclei of DELASEM regrouped quickly after the Liberation. The priority task of DELASEM became to bring together scattered families, especially children hidden in convents or in private, and the other to organize the emigration (yet illegal) to PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, territories then under the British mandate.
Emblematic in this respect, was the case of the ship Faith, was blocked at the port of La Spezia
La Spezia
La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
in April 1946 with over one thousand Jews from Eastern Europe bound for Palestine. It took a hunger strike, allegations from The Unit (L’Unita) and the personal interest of Alcide De Gasperi to unblock this situation.