Lorenzo Perrone
Encyclopedia
Lorenzo Perrone was one of a group of skilled Italian bricklayers working under contract to the Boetti company, who were transferred to Auschwitz according to the camp expansion plan.
In the middle of 1944, while he worked on the building of a wall, Perrone met the Jewish-Italian prisoner Primo Levi
, after Levi heard Perrone speak in the Piedmontese dialect
with a colleague of his, and a friendship between the two developed. Until the December of the same year Perrone gave Levi daily additional food from his rations, saving his life; he also gave him a multicolor garment he would wear under the camp uniform to increase the protection from cold.
Perrone died of tuberculosis
in 1952, and he was included in the Righteous among the Nations
in 1998 by the Yad Vashem
museum of Jerusalem.
The names of Levi's children were chosen as a homage to Lorenzo Perrone: his daughter was Lisa Lorenza, and his son Renzo.
In the middle of 1944, while he worked on the building of a wall, Perrone met the Jewish-Italian prisoner Primo Levi
Primo Levi
Primo Michele Levi was an Italian Jewish chemist and writer. He was the author of two novels and several collections of short stories, essays, and poems, but is best known for If This Is a Man, his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland...
, after Levi heard Perrone speak in the Piedmontese dialect
Piedmontese language
Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 2 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Northern Italian group . It is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, including French, Occitan, and Catalan.Many European and...
with a colleague of his, and a friendship between the two developed. Until the December of the same year Perrone gave Levi daily additional food from his rations, saving his life; he also gave him a multicolor garment he would wear under the camp uniform to increase the protection from cold.
Perrone died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in 1952, and he was included in 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....
in 1998 by the 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....
museum of Jerusalem.
The names of Levi's children were chosen as a homage to Lorenzo Perrone: his daughter was Lisa Lorenza, and his son Renzo.
External links
- Perrone on Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide Committee
- Lorenzo Perrone - Righteous Among the Nations in Auschwitz - Yad Vashem