As discussed on the phone, this is to confirm that a ceremony of the reading of the names of the Italian victims of the Shoah will be held in observance of the Remembrance Day on Monday the 28^th of January, 2008 in front of the Consulate General of Italy at 688 Park Avenue between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. It is the first time that such an event, in the previous years held at the Primo Levi Center, takes place in a public setting. Our goal is to give it the highest visibility.

The names of almost 8000 Italian Jews, slaughtered by the Nazis in the extermination camps, will be read thus honoring their memory. Since the year 2000, the day on which the Soviet army entered the infamous camp of Auschwitz has been chosen by Italy to commemorate the victims of the Shoah and to fight against xenophobia.

The public initiative is led by the Consulate General of Italy in New York, Centro Primo Levi and the Italian Cultural Institute; Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimó at the NYU and the Italian Academy at Columbia University also support the initiative and will host specific events in memory of the victims.

Guests will donate five minutes of their time on Monday the 28^th of January to help us fulfill a task which is the mission of all people of conscience.

Those that will accept to join us can sign up by e-mail at memoria@primolevicenter.org specifying the time at which they will be available. We would be very grateful if you could give our event the highest publicity and if you could invite your acquaintances to take part in it. It is a small gesture but in our opinion also very significant.

With my best regards

 

 

Maurizio Antonini

Deputy Consul

Consulate General of Italy

New York