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Waikrà - Lev. 1-1/5-26
On March 25, 1944, ten-year-old Elena Colombo was arrested in Turin by the SS. She was alone: her parents had already been deported in December. Neither of them had returned from Auschwitz.
Many years later, Fabrizio Rondolino received an email from the Diffused Museum of the Resistance in Turin: they were preparing to lay some stumbling blocks and had found, among the papers of the Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants, a letter written in May 1946 by his grandmother, Marcella Colombo. It was a plea for help in obtaining information on the fate of her brother Sandro, his wife Wanda, and their daughter Elena. “No news of the little girl ever,” Marcella wrote.
Rondolino began from here to reconstruct the short life of Elena, her father’s first cousin, the only Italian Jewish girl who—as he learned during the investigation—faced arrest, detention, and deportation alone. It’s a journey through archives, testimonies, faded photographs, and forgotten names. A journey through one’s family history in search of what lives on from the past, even if it’s just a name to remember.
Second- and third-grade students at the “Emanuele Artom” Middle School will attend a meeting with the author on February 16th at 11:30 a.m. at the school.
The author will present the book “Elena, the story of Elena Colombo, a lonely child in the Shoah,” offering students an important opportunity to explore and reflect on a historical topic of great educational value.
The activity will take place during school hours.
The event poster is available.
