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Giorno della Memoria in Philadelphia

27Jan6:00 pm8:00 pmGiorno della Memoria in Philadelphia6:00 pm - 8:00 pm(GMT+00:00) MemoriaMemoria

Event Details

Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia presents

Witnesses of Rebirth: Jewish Refugees in Apulia

Introductory remarks by Andrea Canepari Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia and by Rabbi Albert Gabbai Congregation Mikveh Israel.

Fabrizio Lelli  Associate Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy)

A conversation with Al Finci Former DP Camp Refugee in Santa Maria al Bagno, Italy

Film Screening: Salento, a Bridge to Israel  (directed by Mandy Feingers, Jerusalem 2007).

At the end of WWII, Jewish refugees were temporarily hosted in transit camps in Apulia, which had been established under the aegis of the United Nations and the Allied Forces, with the support of International Jewish organizations, chiefly the Joint Distribution Committee.

DPs included  former detainees from Italian concentration camps and survivors of Nazi extermination camps, who – from all over Europe, were sent to DP (Displaced Persons) camps in Bari, Barletta and in other small villages on the Lecce sea coast (the most important ones being Santa Cesarea, Santa Maria al Bagno, Santa Maria di Leuca, Tricase Porto). Those refugees remained in Apulia for shorter or longer periods between 1944 and 1949.

The University of Salento has been collecting and publishing autobiographic material and memoirs of by refugees who lived in the transit camps in Puglia.

In their writings the former displaced persons let us know about the daily life in the camps, as well as about their feelings and hopes to find any possible way to migrate to the United States, Israel or to other destinations.

Personal testimonies and interviews allow to reconstruct a full picture of an important page of contemporary history and integrate the official documents preserved in local and international archives.

A conversation with Al Finci Former DP Camp Refugee in Santa Maria al Bagno, Italy

Film Screening: Salento, a Bridge to Israel  (directed by Mandy Feingers, Jerusalem 2007).

At the end of WWII, Jewish refugees were temporarily hosted in transit camps in Apulia, which had been established under the aegis of the United Nations and the Allied Forces, with the support of International Jewish organizations, chiefly the Joint Distribution Committee.

DPs included  former detainees from Italian concentration camps and survivors of Nazi extermination camps, who – from all over Europe, were sent to DP (Displaced Persons) camps in Bari, Barletta and in other small villages on the Lecce sea coast (the most important ones being Santa Cesarea, Santa Maria al Bagno, Santa Maria di Leuca, Tricase Porto). Those refugees remained in Apulia for shorter or longer periods between 1944 and 1949.

The University of Salento has been collecting and publishing autobiographic material and memoirs of by refugees who lived in the transit camps in Puglia.

In their writings the former displaced persons let us know about the daily life in the camps, as well as about their feelings and hopes to find any possible way to migrate to the United States, Israel or to other destinations.

Personal testimonies and interviews allow to reconstruct a full picture of an important page of contemporary history and integrate the official documents preserved in local and international archives.

Teaching tools:

The main resource on DP Camps in Puglia was created by the University of Salento and can be visited at www.profughiebreinpuglia.it

The database of foreign Jews detained in Italy offers fundamental research tools to reconstruct the influx of Jewish refugees and former internees to the DP Camps in Puglia.

The main resource on the history of the Shoah in Italy is provided by the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in Milan (CDEC).

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