Lorenzo Perrone (1904–1952) born in
Fossano,
Province of Cuneo, Italy, was one of a group of skilled Italian bricklayers working under contract to the Boetti company, who were transferred to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
according to the camp expansion plan.
In the middle of 1944, while he worked on the building of a wall, Perrone met the
Jewish-Italian
Italian Jews ( it, Ebrei Italiani, he, יהודים איטלקים ''Yehudim Italkim'') or Roman Jews ( it, Ebrei Romani, he, יהודים רומים ''Yehudim Romim'') can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in or with roots in I ...
prisoner
Primo Levi
Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer, and Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works ...
, after Levi heard Perrone speak in the
Piemontese language
Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...
with a colleague of his (Levi was a native of
Turin), and a friendship between the two developed. Until December of the same year, Perrone gave Levi daily additional food from his rations, saving his life; he also gave him a multi-patched garment he would wear under the camp uniform to increase the protection from cold.
Perrone died of
tuberculosis in 1952. On June 7, 1998, Lorenzo Perrone was recognized as one of the
Righteous among the Nations by the
Yad Vashem museum of
Jerusalem.
The names of Levi's children were chosen as a homage to Lorenzo Perrone: his daughter was Lisa Lorenza, and his son Renzo.
References to Lorenzo Perrone in the writings of Primo Levi
From ''If This Is a Man'':
From ''Moments of Reprieve'':
External links
Perrone on ''Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide Committee''Primo Levi interviewed by Gabriel MotolaPerrone's story
at Yad Vashem website
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrone, Lorenzo
1904 births
1952 deaths
Italian Righteous Among the Nations
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Italian bricklayers
Tuberculosis deaths in Italy
People from Fossano