Memoria al Futuro

The Editors (January 27, 2009)

A special issue of i-Italy dedicated to Remembrance Day. For an uncompromising critique of racism, past and present - in Italy, in America, and everywhere in the World.

This special issue of i-Italy, available also in print, is dedicated to Remebrance Day, and it is our contribution to the many initiatives the Italian and Italian/American communities promote in New York to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz.

We are addressing this particular issue for a variety of reasons.

[2] Read the online issue [2]

[3] Download the print issue in pdf format [3]

First of all, as Italians we feel the civic duty to preserve the memory of the Holocaust, to which Italy sadly contributed by passing the Racial Laws in 1938 and fighting the war from the wrong side of history. Several contributors to this magazine underline this aspect of celebrating Remembrance Day from an Italian point of view. And it is particularly important to highlight, as the Consul General of Italy in New York Francesco Talò [4] says in his opening comment, that “Italy does not forget.”

Second, as Italian Americans we are concerned with a topic that seems to have been largely buried in our memory: the historical and contemporary experience of Italian Jews in the United States and of Italian/American Jews. These are “minorities within a minority,” as pointed out in our interview with Anthony Tamburr [5]i; and historically they experienced a peculiar clash or overlap of identities—religious, political, and cultural.

Third, as non-Jews we intend to dedicate this special issue of i-Italy to an uncompromising critique of racism, past and present. We are aware that, in our societies, on both sides of the Ocean, anti-Semitism is not dead—neither are other forms of racial intolerance, xenophobia, and ethnic violence. Though most of them only pale in comparison to the Holocaust, they are a heinous offense to our civilization. One can only quote Amos Luzzatto [6] in this regard, when he writes in his article that we should realize that “we are all, in fact, minorities.”

Last but not least, as Americans we cannot overlook the coincidence between the celebration of this year’s Remembrance Day and the inauguration of the first African/American president of the United States [7]. These pages, and the online multimedia section you will find on our website, are also a tribute to a major symbolic achievement in the struggle against racism in the world.

i-Italy.org is managed by the Italian/American Digital Project, Inc., a not-for-profit organization based in New York City. This print issue of our magazine was made possible by the contribution of the Scuola d’Italia “Guglielmo Marconi” [8] and the Italian Cultural Institute of New York [9].

We would not be where we are, however, were it not for the generous contributors of our previous print issues, and we extend a heart-warm thanks also to Justice Dominic Massaro, Alitalia [10], the Italian Government Tourist Board of New York [11] (ENIT,) the Regione Sardegna [12], and the Provincia di Ancona [13].