Memory and dialogue

It would be impossible to comprehensively account for all the events that have taken place and are taking place in our city on Holocaust Remembrance Day, or even just those that saw the participation of an official representative of our community. It’s an intense period, rich in interesting events, but one that evokes painful memories for us and our families.
Fortunately, the Jewish calendar often offers, around the same time as Holocaust Remembrance Day (as was the case this year), a very joyful celebration, Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the Trees, the celebration of nature as it begins to awaken after the winter chill and ushers us into spring. The contrast between the two anniversaries seems less stark if we remember that the date chosen for Holocaust Remembrance Day is the date of the liberation of Auschwitz, the first step in a liberation that would only be complete many months later, in late spring.
As always, given our very small numbers, it is difficult for Jews to ensure a significant presence at all events, and ultimately, this is right, because Holocaust Remembrance Day should not focus primarily on Jews. We must also keep in mind that fewer and fewer people are able to bear direct testimony. It was, however, important to have enough people at the cemetery on the morning of January 27th to allow for prayers to be recited in memory of the Jews deported and killed in the Holocaust: a moment that requires collective participation, not just representation.
Another event on Holocaust Remembrance Day in which all participants are involved is the evening torchlight procession from Porta Nuova station, where the deportees’ trains departed, to the Carceri Nuove prison, where many Jews and many of those who opposed Nazism and Fascism were held. Despite the pouring rain, the event still attracted a significant turnout.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is also an opportunity for dialogue with the city and its institutions. A dialogue that hasn’t always been easy, particularly over the last two and a half years, but it’s nonetheless important to keep open.
In this regard, I believe Rector Cristina Prandi and Vice-Rector Gianluca Cuniberti’s decision to visit the “Seeing Auschwitz” exhibition on January 27th, bringing their greetings to our community, was particularly significant. Led by curator Victoria Musiolek, we carefully explored the exhibition and agreed on the importance of maintaining an open dialogue, especially at a time like this, when the University has often been the site of moments of tension and difficulty. The decision to visit the exhibition on January 27th and to immediately announce it, the Rector emphasized, responds precisely to this need.
At a time when many want to erase Holocaust Remembrance Day or distort its meaning, I believe that moments of encounter like these are essential to help us understand that, despite everything, we are not alone or isolated in this city.

Anna Segre