From one Liberation to another

As we prepare to celebrate the final two days of Pesach, the holiday of Liberation from slavery in Egypt, we approach another holiday of Liberation: that of Italy from Nazi-Fascism, which marked the end of persecution for the Jews. The evocative connection between the two liberations has always been strong in the memory of many. Even more striking is the connection with the Jewish Resistance throughout Europe, and in particular with the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, which dates back to the very first evening of Pesach and is explicitly recalled in the Ritual of Remembrance that some read during the Seder in memory of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
These suggestions and associations have also been incorporated into some contemporary Haggadot through quotations and images; I am thinking in particular of the FGEI Haggadah, which has accompanied many of us for decades, which contains the entire text of the “Song of the Jewish Partisans,” written in 1943 by Hirsh Glick in the Vilnius ghetto.
This year, our Community will not be able to officially participate in the Liberation celebrations because April 25th falls on a Saturday. In past years, the traditional torchlight procession on April 24th had been moved to allow us to participate, but this year it was not possible. Given the toxic climate of recent years (I recall that last year, at the torchlight procession on April 24th, our Community banner was greeted with shouts and insults), I believe it would have been unrealistic for us to expect a different solution. Indeed, I believe we should be grateful to the city authorities for at least moving the ceremony at the Martinetto shrine from April 5th to April 1st to allow us to participate.
It’s important to make it clear that even though we won’t be physically present at the torchlight procession on April 24th, our involvement in Liberation Day is no less intense. The Community has already organized several events, particularly the traditional march on April 15th in memory of the Jewish partisan Emanuele Artom from Turin, and on April 26th, Liliana Picciotto’s presentation of the online database of Italian Jewish resistance fighters.
In addition, it would be wonderful to have a collective celebration to replace the torchlight procession, which we won’t be able to attend. The Community Council has come up with the idea of ​​following the presentation on the 26th with an evening of partisan songs, to be sung together, including with those who wish to join us in our celebration. Songs from the Italian Resistance, of course, but also songs that commemorate the Jewish resistance to Nazism throughout occupied Europe, including in the ghettos and concentration camps. And not only that: the fight against Nazism united many people from different ethnic groups, even from far away, who fought together, and even sang together, reviving or translating each other’s songs, with fascinating cross-pollinations that would be interesting to retrace, at least in part. In our imagination, each Liberation recalls the others; memories and influences mingle and reinforce each other. It would be wonderful to organize an evening that offers at least a small glimpse of all this.
Any contribution to the realization of this idea would be greatly appreciated.

By Anna Segre