Elizabeth Bettina - It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust

Thoughts from Survivors
and Other Readers

This is history that neither of us had ever heard, so we arranged to visit Campagna... The events described in Elizabeths book came alive for us. We felt as if we were somehow in the story.

ESTA AND JAY FEINSOD (STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT)

When I read Elizabeth Bettinas book, I read my life story (as it pertained to WW II). If not for the cooperation and help of many Italians, my parents and I would have ended up in Auschwitz.

PAUL MILLET (LAQUILLAABRUZZO)

My father always says that he owes his life to the many benevolent Italians of this time, and for this we thank them and Elizabeth for revealing some of the wars more humane face.

LEONIE (MILLET) SZABO

Finally somebody made known the courage and the empathy of the majority of the Italian people toward us Jews at a time of great danger for us.

NINO ASCOLI (COLLALTO SABINOLAZIO)

In the compelling and beautifully rendered narrative, It Happened in Italy, Elizabeth Bettina reminds us that there were two sides to human nature during this painfully bleak period in history.

DR. ROBERT S. WIDOM, RABBI, TEMPLE EMANUEL OF GREAT NECK, NEW YORK

As a German Jewish refugee in Italy, I find this a book that needed to be written and which brings to life my own experiences with the Italian people. I survived because they helped me and my family.

HEINZ WARTSKI (SAN GINESIO, MONASTERO, MACERATAMARCHE)

After surviving Auschwitz, I learned how many Italians, at their own peril, helped most Jews in Italy avoid extradition to German concentration camps. This was in stark contrast with people of most other European nations who turned Jews over to the German Nazis for transportation to Auschwitz and other extermination camps.

HELLA WARTSKI (SURVIVOR OF AUSCHWITZ AND FREUDENTHAL)

It was surreal finding two photos of myself in the pages of Elizabeth Bettinas book... Reading the stories told by other survivors, identifying with their experiences and emotions, and finding the photos, made this a read Ill always treasure.

CHARLOTTE FULLENBAUM HAUPTMAN(CAMPO DI CONCENTRAMENTO FERRAMONTICALABRIA; PIOVE DI SACCOVENETO; AND SECCHIANOMARCHE)

I was in the Ferramonti Camp with my family. I congratulate Ms. Bettina for her great endeavor to bring to light some good done during this dark time in history.

URSULA EBSTEIN KERSH (CAMPO DI CONCENTRAMENTO FERRAMONTICALABRIA; VILLANTERIOLOMBARDY)

The Jewish Italian experience during the second world war stands as an eternal beacon of hope for humanity in the face of the unspeakable atrocities committed against Jews at the hand of the Germans and their willing helpers.

ROLF GRAYSON. (HIS MOTHER AND SIX MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY SURVIVED IN COSENZACALABRIA)

The stories of the good people of Italy during WWII should be out there in the forefront, and shared to show how they made a monumental difference in the lives of so many during this dark time in the history of humanity.

MARK SAIDENS, FORMER PRESIDENT OF TEMPLE ISAIAH, STONY BROOK, NEW YORK

Elizabeth Bettinas book... is a unique and personal journey of discovery that many students of the Holocaust have missed.

KENNETH HOFFMAN, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you for validating my uncles experience in a concentration camp in Southern Italy which no one wants to talk about. Thank you for not letting us sweep this chapter of Italian history under the carpet. Thank you for not letting us forget.

FRANCESCA LANE KAUTZ, ITALIAN TEACHER, MUSEO ITALOAMERICAN, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

The book was a book club selection at our JCC. We highly recommend the book and recommend Elizabeth for a speaking engagement.

BARBARA SUGARMAN, JCC OF WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA

Compelling and uplifting, the book portrays ordinary heroes who sheltered and saved families, friends and often strangers risking their lives and the lives of their families to do good.

SHERI TEREBELO SCHIFF, EDUCATOR AND DOCENT, HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER IN FARMINGTON HILLS, MICHIGAN

This historical record and account of the Jews in Italy who were saved by the Italian people during the Holocaust moved the people of New Canaan, a town that does not have a large Italian population or a large Jewish population.

It Happened in Italy triggered an extraordinary summer of reading for a town of readers.

CYNDE BLOOM LAHEY, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, NEW CANAAN LIBRARY, NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT

I never heard of a concentration camp with a synagogue or weddings in it. I admire the Italians for thinking of Jews as people, not as the creatures Hitler saw in them.

EIGHTH GRADE STUDENT, STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT

If you are not indifferentthings can be different.

(Elizabeth Bettina)

IT HAPPENED
IN ITALY

UNTOLD STORIES OF
HOW THE PEOPLE OF ITALY
DEFIED THE HORRORS
OF THE HOLOCAUST

ELIZABETH BETTINA

2009, 2011 by Elizabeth Bettina

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Pictures marked Fondazione Museo Internazionale della Memoria Ferramonti di Tarsia have been used with permission specifically given to Thomas Nelson Publishers and Elizabeth Bettina and are for use only in this book, It Happened in Italy.

ISBN 978-1-59555-321-8 (paperback)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010939643

ISBN: 978-1-59555-102-3 (hardcover)

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 RRD 5 4 3 2 1

To my grandmothers, Bessie and Tina, whose immense influence is felt to this day...

... and to all who have the courage to care and are not indifferent to the plight of innocent people.

He who saves one life saves them all.

(Talmud)

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

(Matthew 19:19 NKJV)

Contents

indicates where Jews in this book were during the Holocaust.

Authors Note: Some of the names of people mentioned in this book have been changed to protect their privacy, but it doesnt change the story, or what happened.

This book tells how many Jews survived in Italytheir first-hand witness accounts of survival amidst evil.

Preface
THE DACHAU LIBERATOREARLY
FALL 2008

I f you hadnt shown me these photos, I wouldnt believe it. Its truly unbelievable.

Jimmy Gentry pored over rare pictures and kept shaking his head. As one of the American soldiers who liberated Dachau, the infamous German concentration camp, on April 29, 1945, he reminded me of many World War II soldiers who came homestrong, stoic, and sad. Today he was looking at something hed never imagined: pictures of