Congress of Union of Jewish Communities in Italy Opens in Rome

With high Government and Jewish community leaders, as well as Israel’s Ambassador here, participating, the sixth quinquennial congress of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities opened here at the Barberini Palace.

Sergio Piperne, president of the Union, and Fausto Pitigliano, president of the Rome Jewish Community, spoke glowingly of the Italian Jewish community’s contributions, over the ages, to the elevation of Italy’s cultural and social standards. Maurice Fisher, Israel Ambassador to Italy, greeting the Congress on behalf of his Government, pointed out that the Mediterranean Sea “always contributed to uniting, rather than dividing, the peoples of the Mediterranean.”

Mario Bisori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, told the Congress that the Italian Government has always “been determined to protect the religious life of Italian Jews, their rights and their dignity as citizens.” Several of the speakers alluded to the fact that the Congress is holding its sessions while the Adolf Eichmann trial is under way in Israel. They upheld Israel’s right to try Eichmann.

The opening session also heard from several of the speakers about Italian Jewry’s contributions to Italy’s fights for freedom, from the days of the risorgimento movement to the war for the liberation of the country from Nazi-fascist rule. Tribute was paid to the memory of a 12-year-old Italian Jewish boy, Franco Cesana, who was the youngest Italian partisan killed during World War II in the partisans’ battles against the Mussolini-Hitler regimes.