Jewish children's restored books reveal life hiding from Nazis

Ninety-six restored books give new insights into hidden Jewish cultural life in Italy during the Nazi occupation.

Neatly wrapped in gray dust jackets, the books lie on the table like gifts. These are the restored books of the children of Villa Emma di Nonantola in Italy. A former summer residence of a commandant built in 1890, the building served as a refuge for Jewish children from Germany and Austria fleeing Nazi persecution in 1942 and 1943. The 96 books used by the children were discovered in 2002 in two wooden boxes in a cellar in the nearby town of Modena.

The collection, which includes school literature, religious books and social and entertainment novels, is mostly in German, but there are also works in English, Italian and Hebrew. Among them are novels by authors such as Heinrich Heine, Stefan Zweig and Thomas Mann, whose books

were banned by the National Socialists as "un-German" in the spring of 1933. Some 100-odd public book burnings in over 90 German cities took place that year.

Sanctuary for Jewish children

The old editions from the Villa Emma bore the "Delasem stamp," the emblem of the Delegation for the Support of Jewish Emigrants, an Italian-Jewish aid organization. This helped re

searchers to trace the collection back to Villa Emma.

In July 1942, the vacant villa was rented by the Delasem relief organization. A group of 41 Jewish children and young people from Germany and Austria were to be accommodated here. Recha Freier, a Jewish woman from Berlin, had initially brought the mostly parentless children to Zagreb. From there they fled via Slovenia to Nonantola in Italy. In 1943, more orphans arrived at the villa.

Italian

Close bond with population

Despite the Nazi's racist laws, the refugees were warmly welcomed by the local population. "When they saw us, they said to us, 'What pretty children you are.' They gave us freshly picked apples and other fruit," recalls a witness in the ARD documentary The Children of Villa Emma.

The children had school lessons, learnt farming, and enjoyed close contact with Nonantola's residents. When German troops invaded Italy in September 1943, the village hid all 73 children and their 13 caregivers.

They later managed to escape to Palestine via Switzerland. Some went to the US or later back to Yugoslavia. Except for one boy who had tuberculosis and was later deported to Auschwitz, the rest of the children survived the Holocaust. Some of the caregivers were arrested while

organizing other refugee transport and were probably murdered in Auschwitz.

In total, the Youth Aliyah organization that Freier founded in 1933 helped more than 7,600 Jewish children and young people from Germany and Austria escape to Palestine.

Stories that endure

The story of the children of Villa Emma has been repeatedly adapted, especially for school lessons. One example is the documentary film Die Kinder der Villa Emma—Eine wunderbare Ret

Shooting 'We Are Alive' in 2015: The film retells the story of the Jewish children who were hidden in Villa Emma during World War II

Children who escaped the Third Reich and found refuge in Villa Emma