{"id":6472,"date":"2025-05-19T15:11:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/primolevicenter.org\/printed-matter\/?p=6472"},"modified":"2025-06-05T17:11:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T17:11:43","slug":"6472-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primolevicenter.org\/printed-matter\/6472-2\/","title":{"rendered":"An Act of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nGianfranco Sarfatti, 1943. Translated by Marin Diz<\/a>\r\n\t \t\t
August 1943. The anti-Jewish laws have not been rescinded, but the atmosphere has changed. Gianfranco Sarfatti, who had been expelled from the university for being Jewish, found with others a student committee at the University of Florence. He wrote this text, probably for a public assembly. (February 21, 1945, he died in combat in Morgnetta)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It is our duty as young people to believe in life. Believing in life means believing in ourselves.<\/p>\n

But seeing that our character cannot fully develop if not in a relation with the people who surround us, and that lives can only be realized within a society, we must hold firm to the faith that our contemporary humanity, and in particular the portion to which we are closer (I\u2019m referring to the Italian people), can impose a sociopolitical structure that guarantees to the greater majority of its constituents a period of peace and fruitful labor. This must be and is our faith.<\/p>\n

The skeptics, the discouraged, the pessimists\u2014even if morally they can be justified\u2014from a social point of view, they are sterile elements, and as such, they are not to be taken into consideration whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Not just this, but we also resolutely believe that: as overpowering as the events we are involved in may be; as unavoidable the action of those forces that govern the course of history might seem; also, given that all of that does not exist, at least from a certain point of view, if not as a representation of our \u201cI,\u201d our individual action, far from being negligible and insignificant, can have great importance, if not decisive, in the resolution of current social problems.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, we must keep in mind that the immense tragedy we are experiencing will have its fair catharsis, not for the extrinsic intervention of some deus ex machina<\/i>, but only if we, deep down, understand it in its rational and ethical motives, and if we can to manage our actions as a result of those.<\/p>\n

It seems to me and I may hence conclude that anyone today who has not arrived at the dead point of skepticism, nor is segregated in a sterile egotism, must in some way and by their own strengths take active part in promoting of the moral and political rebirth of the Italian people, that so many noble workers and teachers.<\/p>\n

The fate of the Italian people, of this part of humanity that is heir to a brilliant tradition, are entrusted to the integrity and to the courage of every single citizen: each one of us, in every moment, should feel fully responsible for the misfortunes and the prosperity towards which Italy is headed.<\/p>\n

You will say: too great a responsibility. But I believe that, more than ever in these days, no responsibility can appear too great to the good citizen.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Original text in Italian<\/p>\n

Noi giovani abbiamo il dovere di credere nella vita. Credere nella vita vuol dire credere in noi stessi.<\/p>\n

Ma poich\u00e9 la nostra personalit\u00e0 non pu\u00f2 compiutamente svilupparsi se non mettendosi in relazione con le altre persone che ci circondano, cio\u00e8 la nostra vita solo nella societ\u00e0 pu\u00f2 realizzarsi, noi dobbiamo avere fermissima fede che l’umanit\u00e0 a noi contemporanea, e in particolare quella porzione di essa con la quale siamo uniti con pi\u00f9 diretti vincoli (alludo al popolo italiano), sia capace di imporsi un assetto politico-sociale tale che garantisca alla gran maggioranza dei suoi componenti un periodo di pace e di fecondo lavoro.<\/p>\n

Questa deve essere ed \u00e8 la nostra fede.<\/p>\n

Gli scettici, gli sfiduciati, i pessimisti anche se moralmente possano essere giustificabili, dal punto di vista sociale sono elementi sterili, e come tali non vanno presi in considerazione alcuna.<\/p>\n

Non solo, ma anche questo noi risolutamente crediamo: che per quanto grandiosi siano gli eventi nei quali siamo coinvolti; per quanto ineluttabile possa sembrare l’azione di quelle forze che regolano il corso della storia; pure, dato che tutto ci\u00f2 non esiste, almeno da un certo punto di vista, se non in quanto rappresentazione del nostro Io, la nostra azione individuale, lungi dall’essere trascurabile ed insignificante, pu\u00f2 avere importanza grandissima, se non addirittura decisiva, nella risoluzione degli attuali problemi sociali.<\/p>\n

Inoltre bisogna tenere ben presente, che l’immensa tragedia che noi viviamo, potr\u00e0 avere la sua legittima catarsi, non per l’intervento estrinseco di un qualunque deus ex machina, ma soltanto se noi stessi, nel nostro intimo, la sapremo comprendere nei suoi motivi razionali ed etici, e se sapremo dirigere la nostra azione in conseguenza di quelli.<\/p>\n

Mi pare dunque di poter concludere che chiunque oggi non sia approdato al punto morto dello scetticismo, o non si sia segregato in uno sterile egoismo, deve in qualche modo secondo le proprie forze, prendere parte attiva nel promuovere quella rinascita morale e politica del popolo italiano alla quale con la parola e con l’esempio, gi\u00e0 ci incitano e sospingono tanti nobili animi di lavoratori e di maestri.<\/p>\n

I destini del popolo italiano, di questa parte dell’umanit\u00e0 erede di una cos\u00ec fulgida tradizione, sono affidati alla rettitudine e al coraggio di ogni singolo cittadino: ognuno di noi, in ogni momento, deve sentirsi pienamente responsabile delle sciagure e della prosperit\u00e0 cui vada incontro l’Italia.<\/p>\n

Voi mi direte: troppo grande responsabilit\u00e0. Ma io ritengo che, soprattutto in questi momenti, nessuna responsabilit\u00e0 possa apparire troppo grande al buon cittadino.
\n[Firenze] 8 agosto [19]43<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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