17 May 2006
Tomorrow, May 18, 2006, an event will be held marking the publication of the Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Italy, published in Italian by Mondadori, in cooperation with Yad Vashem.
The event will take place with the participation of Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev, H.E. Sandro De Bernardin, Ambassador of Italy to Israel, Prof. Israel Gutman, Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem, and Chief Editor of the Encyclopedia, Dr. Liliana Picciotto, Editor of the Italian edition, Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (Milan), Claudia Amati, President of the Irgun Olei Italia, Prof. David Cassuto, President, dell’Associzaione Ebrei d’Italia, Israel, Dr. Bracha Rivlin, author of the Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Italy, and Holocaust survivor Shoshana Evron.
The event is taking place in partnership with Italian Embassy in Israel, The Institute of Italian Culture, Tel Aviv, Irgun Olei Italia and the Organization of Italian Jews.
The event will take place in the Lecture Hall at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem at 17:00, and is open to the press in coordination with the Media Relations Department.
About the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Italy is available in Italian; it will be published in English in a volume containing other European countries. It is part of a comprehensive project to present the stories of the over 21,000 Righteous Among the Nations recognized by Yad Vashem. Additional Encyclopedias include France (available in English and French), The Netherlands (available in English and Dutch), Poland (in English), Belgium (in English), Germany and Austria (available in German). Forthcoming volumes include Eastern Europe, Central & Western Europe, and the Rest of the World.
The Italian volume contains the stories of Italian Righteous Among the Nations who have been recognized by Yad Vashem. As of January 2006, 391 Italians have been thus recognized. The volume contains a detailed introduction, a summary of the series, an index for cross-referencing, and pictures. The Encyclopedia was edited by Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem Professor Israel Gutman; the Italian edition was edited by Dr. Bracha Rivlin, a historian at Yad Vashem.
In 1963 Yad Vashem embarked upon a worldwide project to grant the title of Righteous Among the Nations to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. More information about the Righteous Among the Nations program is available here
