On Tuesday, January 27, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined Consul General of Italy in New York Francesco Talò and other dignitaries to read the names of the victims of the Shoah during an observance of Remembrance Day outside the Consulate General of Italy in Manhattan. The names of nearly 8,000 Italian Jews killed by the Nazis in concentration camps were read during the ceremony, which marked the day on which the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and which has been designated by Italy to commemorate the victims of the Shoah and to fight against xenophobia.

Consul General of Italy New York Press Release - Remembrance Day 2009 (January 27)

Since the year 2000, January 27, the day on which the Soviet army entered the infamous camp of Auschwitz in 1945, has been chosen by Italy, followed by the European Union and now the international community under the auspices of the UN, to commemorate the victims of the Shoah and to fight against xenophobia.

Just like last year, the Consulate General of Italy in New York intends to place special emphasis on the commemoration of the Italian victims of the Holocaust, by organizing, in conjunction with the Centro Primo Levi, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimo` at NYU, the Italian Academy at Columbia University, and the John D. Calandra Institute at CUNY, a series of events which are meant to contribute to the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust.

Monday, January 26 | 6 pm – Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue Traces of Memory – Film screening and literary reading

Tuesday, January 27 | 9 am to 4 pm – Italian Consulate (690 Park Avenue) - Outdoor reading of the names of the Italian victims of the Shoah 6 pm – Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16 St. Memory and Exile. Film screening and conversation.

Wednesday, January 28 | 6 pm – New York University Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò, 24 West 12 St. Memory and Justice – Film screening and discussion.

Thursday, January 29 | 6 pm – Italian Academy at Columbia University, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue at 116 St. Symposium: Anti-Semitism at Home and Abroad.

Friday, January 30 | 11 am – The John Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies at CUNY, 25 West 43rd St. Between Italy and America. Memories and Memories.

For further information, see http://www.primolevicenter.org/Home.html

A particularly relevant aspect of the commemoration promoted by the Consulate General of Italy in New York, together with the above mentioned Institutions, will be the ceremony of the reading of the names of the Italian victims of the Holocaust, which will take place in front of its location on Park Avenue (690 Park Avenue). The names of almost 8000 Italian Jews, slaughtered by the Nazis in the extermination camps, will be read by prominent personalities as well as common citizens so as to honor their memory.

Italy is the only Country to organize in New York an outdoor initiative to celebrate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. All New Yorkers are invited to attend the ceremony (memoria@primolevicenter.org).