Righteous among the Nations

Discussion in 'The Holocaust' started by laufer, Oct 25, 2004.

  1. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

  2. PA. Dutchman

    PA. Dutchman Senior Member

    Za Rodinu

    Thank you, there is much to look at and read on the links you posted, again thank you.
     
  3. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Always glad and willing to give a hand, Gregg :)
     
  4. PA. Dutchman

    PA. Dutchman Senior Member

    I am probably repeating myself, but here it goes. A few years ago a Doctor from Israel contacted me. He was searching for his roots and it lead him to us. His mother was a Gentile and a Heilman from Pennsylvania. In time he filled in the blanks and we are 7 TH Cousins.

    I asked him why he did not try to find his father's roots. He explained they were pretty much eliminated in the Holocaust and there was no one to contact.

    I told him we would let the family know we now have a Koshered PA. Dutchman in the family.

    Shoofly pie here is an old old favorite, he told me they got a Koshered recipe for it and his wife made the first Shoofly Pie in Jerusalem.
     
  5. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    I've been reading a very good book on the post-war sporting rivalry of two of Italy's greatest sportsmen, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. What was rather less well known was how, during the war, Bartali used his celebrity status to help save lives of over 800 Jews. The following is a neat summary of what Bartali did...

    Gino Bartali: Italian Cyclist Who Helped Saved Lives

    Bartali has earned respect for his work in helping Jews who were being persecuted by the Nazis during the time of the Italian Social Republic. His humanitarian story emerged in December 2010, ten years after his death, when it was revealed he had hidden a Jewish family in his cellar and according to one of the survivors, by doing so saved their lives. It is estimated that he helped saved more than 800 Jews during World War II.

    Bartali was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice (in 1936 and 1937) and the Tour de France in 1938 and 1948.
    Bartali's win of the Tour of France in 1938, right before the start of the war, made him a heroe in his native Italy, fame he used to carry messages and documents to the Italian Resistance during the war as a humanitarian act to save many Jewish people from death. Bartali cycled from Florence through Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche, sometimes traveling as far afield as Rome, all the while wearing the racing jersey emblazoned with his name. Neither the Fascist police nor the German troops risked discontent by arresting him. His second and last win of the Tour de France victory after the war in 1948 gave him the largest gap between victories in the race.

    Giorgio Nissim, a Jewish accountant from Pisa, was a member of DELASEM, founded by the Union of the Israeli Communities to help Jewish Italians escape persecution. DELASEM (Delegazione per l'Assistenza degli Emigranti Ebrei) 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.The network in Tuscany was discovered in autumn 1943 and all members except Nissim sent to concentration camps.

    Gino Bartali met Pope Pius XII and, with the help of the Archbishop of Genoa, the Franciscan Friars and others he reorganized DELASEM and helped 800 Jews escape. Nissim died in 2000. His sons found from his diaries that Bartali had used his fame to help. Nissim and the Oblati Friars of Lucca forged documents and needed photographs of those they were helping. Bartali used to leave Florence in the morning, pretending to train, rode to a convent in which the Jews were hiding, collected their photographs and rode back to Nissim. Bartali used his position to learn about raids on safehouses.

    Bartali was eventually taken to Villa Triste in Florence where he was questioned by the Italian RSS office where they threatened his life, but his fame was too strong for the Social Republic to further investigate. Bartali simply answered "I do what I feel in my heart". He continued with the Assisi Underground and in 1943 led Jewish refugees towards the Swiss Alps. He cycled pulling a wagon with a secret compartment, telling patrols it was just part of his training. Bartali told his son Andrea that "One does these things and then that's that".

    Bartali stopped racing when he was 40, after being injured in a road accident. At the age of 85 he had a heart bypass operation and then died of a heart attack, having received the last rites 10 days earlier. He left his wife, Adriana, two sons and a daughter.The then prime ministerof Italy, Giuliano Amato, sent condolences. Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, called him "a symbol of the most noble sportsmanship." The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) called two days of mourning and silences were observed before sports events. A mini-series based on his life was produced in 2006 for Italian television titled: "Gino Bartali L'intramontabile," before his humanitarian work had been revealed.

    [​IMG]
    Gino Bartali 1914 - 2000

    extract courtesy of communityoflights.com
     
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  6. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    Nice thread Jonathan thanks for sharing mate.
     
  7. Vitesse

    Vitesse Senior Member

    Jonathan - does the book have any background on the Italian ban on sporting contact with France? I know it was imposed round about December 22nd 1938, but i've never come cross the actual decree, which presumably came from Il Duce himself.

    That ban was probably the only reason Bartali didn't win the 1939 Tour de France.
     
  8. Varasc

    Varasc Senior Member

    Very interesting!, thank you for sharing.
     
  9. Michael Z

    Michael Z Member

    Has he been considered for entry in Yad Vashem's "Righteous among the Nations"?
    Or is he already listed?
    Or isn't his contribution well-enough documented?
    I don't know what the criteria is, I was just wondering.
    Michael
     
  10. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Michael

    I've just taken a quick look on the website and entered 'Bartali' in the search box. There was no match. Do you think it's worth contacting them?
     
  11. Michael Z

    Michael Z Member

  12. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

  13. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Never too late to acknowledge deeds of compassion and heroism.

    Ron
     
  14. PeterG

    PeterG Senior Member

    Gino Bartali to be honoured for helping save Italian Jews from the Holocaust | road.cc | Road cycling news, Bike reviews, Commuting, Leisure riding, Sportives and more

    In Israel, the Yad Vashem Memorial is currently [February, 2012] studying the evidence with a view to granting Bartali the posthumous distinction of “Righteous Among the Nations”, awarded to those who placed their lives in danger to save Jews.

    ITALIAN CYCLING JOURNAL: Bartali - Tribute to the Italian Champion on Holocaust Memorial Day
     
    Jonathan Ball likes this.
  15. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Has he been considered for entry in Yad Vashem's "Righteous among the Nations"?
    Or is he already listed?
    Or isn't his contribution well-enough documented?
    I don't know what the criteria is, I was just wondering.
    Michael

    Wonder no more, see here :)

    And yes, another name for the wall. And there is still room for more!
     
    Jonathan Ball likes this.
  16. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Somebody has been kind enough to write a book for me to read. :)

    The short video contains testament from two Jewish Italian citizens whom Bartali helped and is quite touching.

    [YOUTUBE]3zuUlQTDiP4[/YOUTUBE]
     
  17. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28814555
    [​IMG]


    A Dutchman honoured by Israel for hiding a Jewish child during World War Two has handed back his medal after six of his relatives were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza.

    Henk Zanoli, 91, wrote to the Israeli embassy in The Hague to say he could no longer hold the honour.

    He said an Israeli F-16 had destroyed his great-niece's home in Gaza, killing all inside, in the recent offensive.

    The Israeli embassy has declined to comment on Mr Zanoli's action.

    'An insult'
    Mr Zanoli and his mother were awarded the "Righteous Among the Nations" honour by Israel in 2011 for helping to shelter a Jewish child from the Nazis in their family home from 1943-45.

    The award is accorded to non-Jews who risked their lives to protect and save Jews during the Holocaust.

    However, Mr Zanoli said in a letter published by Israel's Haaretz newspaper that "to hold on to the honour granted to me by the State of Israel under these circumstances, would be an insult... to those in my family, four generations on, who lost no less than six of their relatives in Gaza."


    "The great-great grandchildren of my mother have lost their grandmother, three uncles, an aunt and a cousin at the hands of the Israeli military," he wrote, referring to an air strike by the Israeli military on 20 July.

    His great-niece is a Dutch diplomat who is married to Palestinian economist Ismail Ziadah, who was born in a refugee camp in central Gaza.

    Mr Ziadah's mother, three brothers, a sister-in-law and nine-year-old nephew were all killed after their family home was hit by Israeli aircraft.

    Mr Zanoli, a retired lawyer, offered sharp criticism of Israel's Operation Protective Edge offensive, warning that such actions could lead to possible convictions of "war crimes and crimes against humanity".

    Israel has defended its offensive in Gaza, saying its forces had gone to "unprecedented lengths to keep Palestinians out of harm's away" by issuing warnings via text message, telephone and leaflet dropping.

    Mr Zanoli has faced his own share of family tragedy after losing his father at a Nazi concentration camp and a brother-in-law who was killed for his role in the Dutch resistance during World War Two.

    "Against this background it is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel," he wrote in the letter addressed to Israeli ambassador Haim Davon.

    He was reportedly too frail to hand the medal back in person, but instead sent it to the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands.


    [hr]
    http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=9120199
    http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/related/elchanan_pinto_testimony.asp
    http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/vries.asp



    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/world/middleeast/henk-zanoli-israel-gaza-holocaust-ziadah.html
     
  18. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day dbf,yesterday.10:44am.re:duchman returns medal.it is very sad for this heroic man.returning the medal does not wipe out his good deed in ww2 placing his life at risk.regards bernard85
     
  19. smdarby

    smdarby Well-Known Member

    Fascinating obituary in The Times today for Raoul Wallenburg, which has been published more than 70 years after his death.

    Apologies to those who are already familiar with Wallenburg's story, but it's the first I've heard of him. He was a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during WWII. He was arrested by the Soviets at the end of the war and went missing. He has only now been officially pronounced dead. Particularly sad is that his parents searched for his whereabouts for years, but eventually committed suicide in 1979 after getting no answers from the Russian or Swedish governments.

    Unfortunately, I can't post a link as The Times is a subscription service, but there is plenty of information about him online in the usual places.
     
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  20. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    To my mind, the ongoing mystery surrounding Raoul Wallenberg, remains one of the enduring injustices from the war. Some 70 years later and really no closer to knowing why the Soviet's arrested him, the circumstances of his imprisonment and finally, how and when he died.
    His case does also give one pause as to the veracity of other Soviet/Russian "disclosures" from that period. No one really believes the "heart attack" version.
     
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