I-ITALY

Centro Primo Levi congratulates i-Italy on the launching of its new print magazine!
Visit the website and pick up your free copy at Eataly.


THANKS 
Centro Primo Levi thanks its readers, audience, contributors and its main supporters:

Cahnman Foundation, Viterbi Family Foundation
Peter S. Kalikow
Dr. Claude Ghez

CPL's logo is designed by Jonathan Wajskol.
PROGRAM THE LONGEST JOURNEY 
The Last Days of the Jews of Rhodes. Produce by Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation and The Shoah Museum of Rome

March 13 at 7 p.m. | The Museum of Jewish Heritage | 36 Battery Place | Box Office: 646.437.4202 |  Purchase tickets online

World premiere of a film by Ruggero Gabbai, historical research by Liliana Picciotto and Marcello Pezzetti. Post screening discussion with Ruggero Gabbai and Stella Levi  

 

In 1938, the Italian Racial Laws stripped the Jews of Rhodes of their civil rights and livelihood. Many young men were sent away to safer places. Amidst the indifference and compliance of the Italian authorities, three high school professors, known for their antifascist leanings, held unofficial classes for the Jewish boys and girls.   

 

In the fall of 1943, in spite of a much greater military force, after a brief resistance, the Italian governor surrendered to the Germans. Many of the soldiers were deported to German labor camps. With the Germans in military control of the island, the Italian civilian authorities took the oath to Mussolini and remained in their positions. They continued to protect Italian interests as well as the Italians who had not fled.  

 

The Jewish community, by and large impoverished and unaware of what was happening to the Jews in Europe and even in Greece, witnessed the events following the armistice in complete isolation. Even though they were all Italian citizens, they were left out of the communication network that might have helped them make informed decisions.  

 

On July 19, 1944, 1,800 of them, including elderly and children, all of them Italian citizens, were summoned to the air force headquarter and reported promptly to the authorities. Four days later, they were loaded on boats and transported to Athens. They arrived in Auschwitz on August 16. Today little remains of the culture and history of the Jews of Rhodes and this film is a precious contribution in tracing a continuity from that lost world to ours.  Read

PRINTED MATTER ONE FAMILY, TWO DIVERGING EXPERIENCES IN FASCIST ITALY: A CONVERSATION WITH ANDREW AND ERNA VITERBI  


Alessandro Cassin

 

Erna and Andrew Viterbi met in Los Angeles after World War II, got married, started a family and achieved outstanding personal and professional recognition. Their stories, apparently distant yet complementary, are emblematic of the fate of the more fortunate among Italian and foreign Jews who found themselves in Italy between 1938-1944.

 

Italy was both the country that turned its back on Andrew's family, as well as the country that offered a respite to Erna's, in flight from Nazi-Fascist dominated Yugoslavia.  It was at once a place of betrayal and persecution, and a place where Jewish "refugees could be treated with dignity.  

 

Sixty-eight years after the end of the war, the Viterbis (today Board Members of Centro Primo Levi) look back and reminisce on what happened to them in Italy. Read 

 

PROGRAM SONG FOR LIFE. CHARLETTE SHULAMIT OTTOLENGHI IN MEMORY OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING
 
April 10 at 7:00 pm | The Museum of Jewish Heritage | 36 Battery Place. Box Office: 646.437.4202
 

Presented in collaboration with the Consulate General of Israel, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland and the Consulate General of Italy on the occasion on the 70th Anniversary of the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto. Ms. Ottolenghi will be accompanied by the renowned pianist Shai Bachar. Read  

 

AROUND TOWN  "PRIMO" ENZO CELLI AND PERIDANCE PAY TRIBUTE TO PRIMO LEVI 

 

March 9 - March 17 | Peridance Contemporary Dance Co.  
Salvatore Capezio Theater  |  126 E 13th St.
Tickets and information

Choreographer Enzo Celli unveils "Primo," a dance inspired by Primo Levi's Holocaust memoir, "Se questo � un uomo," which calls on society to remember the past in order to avoid future misdeeds. This artistic collaboration between PCDC and Mr. Celli celebrates 2013 as a year of cultural exchange between Italy and the United States. This project aspires to bring together three worlds - the American, Italian, and Jewish - and unite them in their common love for life and freedom.