Italy and the Holocaust Foundation

The Foundation aims to share the story of the role of Italy & many individual Italians in saving about 80% of the Jews in Italy during the Holocaust.

Italy and the Holocaust, Inc. ("the Foundation") was formed in 2010 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to share the little known story of the role of the Italian people in protecting and saving approximately 80% of the Jews (both Italian nationals and refugees) in Italy during the Holocaust. The seeds for the Foundation were originally planted in 1995 when the Foundation's President, Vincent Marmorale, first met a Holocaust survivor named Walter Wolff. Mr. Wolff shared his story of survival in Italy during the Holocaust and recounted how ordinary people did the right thing when it mattered most and at great personal danger to themselves. Mr. Wolff went on to author an autobiography titled Bad Times, Good People: A Holocaust Survivor Recounts His Life in Italy During World War II. In his book, Mr. Wolff described how he and his family escaped Germany in 1939 and went to the only country which would accept him and his family: Italy.

The goal of the Foundation is to share stories of survival, like that of Walter Wolff, which were possible because people had the courage to care for fellow human beings. In sharing these little known stories, the Foundation will educate generations to come that if people are not indifferent, things can be different.

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