Thematic sites - Municipality of Milan

DAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS 2023. “SAVE THE HUMAN IN MAN. THE RIGHTEOUS AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY"  
Ceremony at Monte Stella on the twentieth anniversary of the Giardino di Milano. The new Righteous Gareth Jones, Alfreda “Noncia” Markowska, Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, Akram Aylisli were honored. Luca Attanasio among the Righteous highlighted by civil society  

Milan, 3 March 2023 – Can we still believe in man after the Shoah, the Gulag, the genocides of the twentieth century and with a new war in Europe? It's a question we often ask ourselves when we say the phrase never again. But it is also the question of the author of Life and Destiny Vasilij Grossman, which inspired the title of the ceremonies of the Day of the Righteous of Humanity 2023. According to Grossman, in fact, even in the face of extreme evil the human man cannot be eradicated. Grossman's thoughts were the underlying theme of the ceremony at the Garden of the Righteous in Milan, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year (for more information gariwo.net/20anni).  

At this morning's meeting in Milan for the ceremony of placing the new plaques and handing over the parchments to the Righteous, together with the representatives of the newly honored Righteous, to the Association for the Garden of the Righteous of Milan, of which the Gariwo Foundation is part, the Municipality of Milan and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, attended by the President of the City Council Elena Buscemi, the President of the Gariwo Foundation Gabriele Nissim and Giorgio Mortara representing the UCEI.   

Present for the newly honored Righteous were Philip Colley, great-grandson of Gareth Jones and coordinator ofgarethjones.org, Dijana Pavlovic, founder of the Kethane Movement in Italy, Gabriel Cox, nephew of Sir Hersch Lauterpacht and Pietro Kuciukian, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Italy and co-founder of Gariwo.  

The Righteous honored are:  

• Gareth Jones, Welsh journalist, was the first to document the Holodomor, clashing with Western indifference and Soviet censorship until his mysterious death;   
• Alfreda “Noncia” Markowska, a Roma woman, lost her family during the Porrajmos but risked her life to save the greatest number of children, Roma or Jews, from extermination;   
• Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, British jurist, placed the individual at the center of law and promoted the idea of ​​personal responsibility in the face of inhuman orders at Nuremberg; 
• Akram Aylisli, Azerbaijani writer, denounced his country's violence against the Armenians and supported dialogue between the two peoples, paying with an "exile" in his own land. 

During the ceremony, scrolls were also delivered in honor of the Righteous highlighted by civil society: Don Girolamo Tagliaferro, who during the Second World War worked in defense of the weakest and persecuted, Jews and political fugitives; Don Paolo Liggeri, who after the bombings of Milan in 1943 created the La Casa assistance center, organizing the escape of Jews and anti-fascists; Elvira and Ernesto Cattaneo and Mother Superior Sister Teresa, who risked their lives to save a little Jewish girl; Don Mussie Zerai, the Eritrean priest and activist who founded the NGO Habeshia which has been assisting migrants for over twenty years; Lodovico Targetti, the wool industrialist who during the German occupation hosted many Jews fleeing deportation in his house in Moltrasio, accompanying them to the border; Luca Attanasio, the Italian Ambassador to Congo who distinguished himself with his work and with the Mama Sofia association for his great attention to the most vulnerable and the defense of human rights in Africa. 

The morning ended with a moment of discussion at the Ulianova Radice Amphitheater which saw school students arriving from different parts of Italy as protagonists, together with Don Mussie Zerai; Luca Attanasio's wife, Zakia Seddiki; Sir Hersch Lauterpacht's granddaughter, Gabriel Cox; Gareth Jones' great-grandson Philip Colley; the founder of the Kethane Movement in Italy, Dijana Pavlovic; the Honorary Consul of Armenia in Italy Pietro Kuciukian.   

“It is in times like the ones we are experiencing, with the tragedy of the migrants in Cutro and the atrocity of war returning to Europe, that the need to make known and preserve the history of the Righteous in the world re-emerges forcefully - said the Prime Minister municipality and President of the Committee of Guarantors of the Garden of the Righteous, Elena Buscemi -. Examples of women and men who have spent their lives for values ​​such as justice, truth, solidarity and humanism. Milan has made a commitment to future generations regarding the care of its memory and the Garden of the Righteous, born twenty years ago, is an example of this commitment in the world." 

"From this garden we think of the Ukrainian boys, the young Russians who refuse to fight, the Iranian and Afghan women - said Gabriele Nissim President of the Gariwo Foundation -. As well as all the boys who move around the world to defend the planet. The people we honor today are examples of responsibility because they challenged unjust laws. Because demonstrating our love for humanity is life's greatest jury."  

THE DAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS - On Gariwo's proposal, in 2012, the European Parliament proclaimed 6 March "European Day of the Righteous" to commemorate those who opposed with individual responsibility crimes against humanity and totalitarianism. Since 2017, the Day of the Righteous of Humanity has become a civil solemnity in Italy and is celebrated with dozens of initiatives in schools and in the Gardens of the Righteous that have sprung up throughout the country.