MY ITALIAN SECRET: The Forgotten Heroes
MY ITALIAN SECRET: The Forgotten Heroes is a feature length documentary that tells the story of courageous Italians, including sports idol Gino Bartali, who carried out ingenious schemes to rescue and protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Italy. Although Gino Bartali is a sports legend, his most daring triumph came when he risked his life countless times to save Jews threatened by Nazi extermination. The story of Bartali and the secret network of which he was a member, is just one example of the heroism exhibited by thousands of ordinary Italians who risked their lives to save others from capture and death. As an entire continent was engulfed in a genocide, which took the lives of most Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe (11 million people perished, including 6 million Jews), approximately 80 percent of Italy’s Jews survived. Bartali, like most of the rescuers, never sought recognition or reward. Few of those he helped knew his name or what role he played in their rescue. In addition to Gino Bartali, thousands of conscientious individual Italians risked their lives in order to assist people who in many cases were complete strangers. Most of these heroes never spoke of their courageous deeds. MY ITALIAN SECRET begs the question: Would you risk your life to save a stranger and then never talk about it?
DOCUMENTARY CHARACTERS:
Gino Bartali** - Gino was a famous cyclist who risked his life to assist and shelter Jews under German occupation. He hid false papers in the frame of his bicycle and transported them from Cardinal Dalla Costa to the Bishop of Assisi where Jews found sanctuary.
Charolette Hauptmann - Charlotte returned to Italy with her grandson because she wanted him to know her story. Charlotte’s family left Germany in 1938 after Kristallnacht, and she was born in Italy. The family lived in Milan for approximately two years, and then they were sent to the Ferramonti internment camp.
Ursula Korn Selig - Ursula is a German Jew who went to Italy with her family in 1935. She and her family were protected by Monsignor Schivo who hid her father in the countryside. Ursula and her mother were dressed as nuns and lived in a convent.
Gaia Servidio - Gaia’s father was a successful Director in a factory in Padua and was well respected in Italian society. Once the Racial Laws were enacted, her father lost his position not only in the factory but also in Italian society. Gaia’s nanny had a friend who warned the family of danger, and they fled.
Piero Terracina - Piero described how at first his family was able to hide in Rome. However, when his sister rebuked an Italian man, he betrayed them, and the entire family was sent to Auschwitz.
Dr. Giovanni Borromeo - Dr. Borromeo was director of a hospital in Rome. He invented a mythical disease called “K” to deceive the Germans and save Jews. He hid Jews in the hospital and told the Germans that there was a very contagious and incurable disease called “K” in the hospital, which resulted in the Germans deciding not to enter the hospital.
**Yad Vashem Recognized Gino Bartali of Italy as Righteous Among the Nations - September 23, 2013
Yad Vashem has posthumously recognized Gino Bartali from Italy as Righteous Among the Nations. Bartali was a champion cyclist and a beloved public figure. During the German occupation of Italy (beginning in September 1943), Bartali, a devout Catholic, was part of a rescue network spearheaded by Rabbi Nathan Cassuto of Florence together with the Archbishop of Florence Cardinal Elia Angelo Dalla Costa (previously recognized as Righteous Among the Nations). This Jewish-Christian network, set up following the German occupation of Italy and the onset of deportation of Jews, saved hundreds of local Jews and Jewish refugees from territories which had previously been under Italian control, mostly in France and Yugoslavia. Gino Bartali acted as a courier for the network, secreting forged documents and papers in his bicycle and transporting them between cities, all under the guise of training. Knowingly risking his life to rescue Jews, Bartali transferred falsified documents to various contacts, among them Rabbi Cassuto.