Mario Finzi (15 July 1913 – 22 February 1945) was a Jewish Italian lawyer who died in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life and career

Finzi was born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, Italy, from an Italian

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family: both his father Amerigo Finzi, and his mother, Ebe Castelfranchi, were teachers. A musician of great talent, he graduated when he was only 15, winning a State prize from the Ministry of Education, thereafter beginning a musical career of successful concerts. At the same time, he studied Law, and was awarded his degree summa cum laude at 20, also winning the King's Prize. Only 24, Finzi was already a magistrate and a judge. In 1938 he began his legal career in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, but he was soon hampered by the Fascist racist laws promulgated in Italy that very year. Moving to Paris, he dedicated himself totally to music as a pianist, under contract with the French Radio. When war exploded in Europe, Finzi was in Italy to renew his French visa, and thus could not return to Paris. He died in the

Assisting the Jews

Finzi began to teach at the Bologna Jewish School and between 1940 and 1943 was active as the local delegate of

DELASEM Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants (Delegazione per l'Assistenza degli Emigranti Ebrei) or DELASEM, was an Italian and Jewish resistance organization that worked in Italy between 1939 and 1947. It is estimated that during World War I ...

^{(see note 1)}, a

organisation for the assistance of

refugees in Italy. He was directly involved in the Villa Emma experience at Nonantola, where hundreds of

orphans from Germany and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

were finding shelter. Finzi was the one to welcome them at the

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

station, the first train of young refugees coming from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, then preparing their billeting at Nonantola. Several times he cycled all the way from Bologna, in order to visit the children, play with them and play some piano music for them. After 8 September 1943 and the German occupation of Italy, Finzi continued underground his assistance of persecuted Jews. He procured false identity cards for the boys of Nonantola so they could emigrate to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and offered similar help to many others, including the priest Don

Leto Casini In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Leto (; grc-gre, Λητώ , ''Lētṓ'', or , ''Lātṓ'' in Doric Greek) is a goddess and the mother of Apollo, the god of music, and Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.Hesiod, ''Theogony'404–409/ref> ...

and the entire clandestine DELASEM Committee of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. Wrote Don Casini:

Arrest and Internment

Finzi was arrested on 31 March 1944, whilst going to the local hospital to pay for the stay of a sick Jewish boy. Incarcerated in the Bologna jail of San Giovanni al Monte and subsequently in the Fossoli concentration camp, he was then transported in a sealed railway-car to

Auschwitz-Birkenau 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 ...

in May 1944. According to the testimony of a Jew from

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

, Eliakim Cordoval, who assisted him, Finzi died because of a grave intestinal infection on 22 February 1945, almost a month after the camp's liberation – another version argues that Finzi threw himself on the high-tension wire that surrounded the camp. He allegedly left behind a message for his parents, asking their forgiveness.Cf
U.S. Holocaust Memorial entry for Mario Finzi

Recognitions

*In 1953 The Municipal Council of Bologna officially named to him the street leading to the Bologna Synagogue. *In 1960 his contribution the Italian Resistance was recognised and in 1965 the Regional Committee "Prize to the Good" assigned the Golden Star to his memory. Every year, during ''Remembrance Day'' ( Yom HaShoah), the Jewish Museum of Bologna organises a historico-documentary exhibition to remember him.

Quote

Bibliography

*Fabio Fano (a cura di), ''Mario Finzi: lettere a un amico, brani musicali, ricordi e testimonianze (Letters to a friend, musical pieces, memories and testimonials)'' (Alfa: Bologna 1967) *Renato Peri, ''Mario Finzi; o, Del buon impiego della propria vita'' (Barghigiani: Bologna 1995)

Notes

External links

Profile from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum''The Italians and the Holocaust'', by Susan Zuccotti, Furio Colombo
(1996)

* DELASEM on it.Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Finzi, Mario 1913 births 1945 deaths Italian people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Jewish musicians Italian Jews who died in the Holocaust Musicians from Bologna Italian civilians killed in World War II 20th-century Italian musicians Fossoli camp survivors Italian expatriates in France