Holocaust Remembrance Day, the story of survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in the film about the Italian Shoah
All the initiatives promoted by the High School for Holocaust Remembrance Day. At 9:30 a.m., the conference “Memory, Constitutions and Rights” and at 5:00 p.m., the presentation of the book “Memory. Diary of a Journey”, followed by the screening of the film “Kinderblock - The Last Deception”
On Tuesday 27 January, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa celebrates Memorial Day with a series of initiatives open to the public to reflect on the centrality of historical memory and the importance of passing on remembrance to new generations.
The complete programme
Presentation of the book “Memoria. Diario di un viaggio” and screening of the film “Kinderblock - L'ultimo inganno”
“It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say”, wrote Primo Levi. Taking his warning to heart, on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Scuola Normale Superiore, University of Pisa, Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca, with the patronage of the Prefecture of Pisa, are organising an event on Tuesday 27 January at 5 p.m., during which the book “Memoria. Diario di un Viaggio” will be presented, followed by a screening of the film “Kinderblock - L'ultimo inganno”.
The book, published by Pisa University Press and edited by Michele Emdin and Marian Alexandru Isacov, brings together in a sort of “travel diary” the reflections of students from the Sant'Anna School, the Scuola Normale Superiore, the University of Pisa, the Mascagni Conservatory in Livorno and professors from the three universities and the IMT in Lucca at the end of a trip to the Nazi extermination camps of Dachau, Ebensee, Hartheim, Gusen and Mauthausen organised in May 2025, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Liberation, by the National Association of Former Deportees, Pisa section, chaired by Laura Geloni.
The event, attended by the Prefect of Pisa, Maria Luisa D'Alessandro, and other city authorities, will be introduced by Nicola Vitiello (Rector of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies), Alessandro Schiesaro (Director of the Scuola Normale Superiore), and Saulle Panizza, Director of CIDIC, University of Pisa. Salvatore Settis and Elisa Guidi will introduce the readings by students Alice Bianco, Niccolò Ferretti, and Niccolò Chiaramonti.
This will be followed by the screening of the documentary Kinderblock- L'ultimo inganno (Kinderblock- The Last Deception), made in 2013 by Ruggero Gabbai with a screenplay by Marcello Pezzetti, produced by the Shoah Museum Foundation in collaboration with Rai Cinema and the Goren Monti Ferrari Foundation. It tells the story of Sergio De Simone, born in Naples, and his two cousins, Andra and Tatiana Bucci. The tragedy of children in the Auschwitz concentration camp is conveyed through the testimonies of survivors who were children at the time. Their vivid yet fragmentary memories are the pieces of a complex and painful mosaic that powerfully brings to light the atrocities of the extermination camps, such as the medical experiments on children conducted by Dr Mengele. Andra and Tatiana Bucci are mistakenly taken for twins by Mengele, which allows them to survive. A series of events leads little Sergio to take that fateful step forward that represents the final deception: under the illusion of finding his mother, Sergio faces the most atrocious of experiments and ultimately death, along with 19 other children in a basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school in Hamburg.
The event coincides with the presentation by IMT in Lucca, Cappella Guinigi, Complesso di San Francesco, at 5 p.m., of the film “Il Viaggio più lungo. Rodi-Auschwitz” (The Longest Journey. Rhodes-Auschwitz) by Ruggero Gabbai.
Memory, Constitution and Rights: memory as the foundation of constitutional democracy
“Memory, Constitution and Rights” is the title of the meeting scheduled for Tuesday 27 January at 9:30 a.m. in Room 3. The event is organised as part of the project 'It's Your History, Bro!
Make Memories from Memories', co-funded by the European Union and carried out by the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in partnership with the ISMU Foundation and the Memoria della Deportazione Foundation (project leader).
The conference, coordinated by Prof. Francesca Biondi Dal Monte, offers a structured and interdisciplinary reflection on the value of memory as the foundation of constitutional democracy and as a tool for the protection of rights. Through the contributions of lecturers, researchers and experts from various institutions, the conference will address issues that are central to understanding the present: the relationship between memory and the Constitution, the role of constitutional charters in preserving democratic values, persecution and discrimination, the voices of survivors, and the gender dimension in the construction of collective memory.
Particular attention will be paid to involving the younger generation, so that in the near future they can become ambassadors of Holocaust memory. To this end, the importance of memory trips will be highlighted in the context of the experience that led to the publication of the book “Memoria Diario di un Viaggio” (Memory Diary of a Journey).
To participate in person, we recommend registering at this link.
