OPINION-

Holocaust because I knew — but did
not understand how — the past had
shaped my family and, therefore, had
shaped me too. Somehow, the past
was about who I am now.
"I have learned that I am a member
of a people with a long and great his-
tory, a history that had been closed to
me before and now is open."
I was taken aback because I had
heard those words before, in every
European language and from every
comer of the continent of Europe.
They had been spoken by now-adult
child survivors of the Holocaust, like
Mariella Milano-Piperno, a well-to-do
Italian Jewish girl at the time. In
November 1938, racial laws excluded
her from school. "The day that we could
not return to school, I remember that I
was ashamed before my companions, to
tell them, 1 cannot come because I am a
Jewish girl.' Then the questions came.
`Why? What did I do not to be allowed
to go to school?'"
At that point her family (like other
Italian Jewish families) had two choic-
es for their older children: to send
them to a Catholic school or to a non-
denominational private school. Nei-
ther was a great option. In Catholic
schools, the children had to follow the
Catholic rite; and the private schools
were meant for remedial education.
In Rome, as in many other cities in
Italy, there was a Jewish primary
school, but there was little in the way
of Jewish secondary education for girls
and boys the age of Mariella Piperno.
To meet that need, a number of Jew-
ish communities established schools
for their young people. They were
taught by the school teachers and uni-
versity professors who had lost their
jobs as a result of the same racial laws
of November 1938.
Mariella Piperno's family consid-
ered the matter carefully. They were
anxious for their daughters to live as
normal a life as possible and to con-
tinue to go to school with Catholic
Italian children. "My grandmother,
who was rather elderly at the time,
remembered all that the Jews had suf-
fered in the ghetto [of Rome] when it
was a closed ghetto [until 1870], and
she remembered, with terror, that fact
of being enclosed all together.
"She urged my sister and me, 'Now
that we have obtained liberty, why don't
you profit by it, revel in it! Why must
you close yourselves in once again?'"
For two months, Mariella attended a
non-denominational private school. But
the education she received was poor and
she enrolled in the Jewish high school.

Respond as
you wish the world
had responded
the last time.

The Jewish community

knows firsthand that silence

breeds tragedy.

We are particularly proud to

be part of a country that

upholds humanitarian ideals

and refuses to turn a blind eye

to the horror of ethnic

cleansing.

Please join us in helping the

innocent victims of hatred.

Agencc France-Pressc

THE

ADL FUND FOR THE REFUGEES OF

KOSOVO

Michael P. Horowitz, Regional Chairman

Donald H. Cohen, Regional Director

All funds will directly aid the people of Kosovo.

Please send donations to ADL Fund for the Refugees of Kosovo,

823 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017 • www.adl.org

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Detroit Jewish News

4/30
1999

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