27 January is a Day of Remembrance. It is a very important date, which sees all the countries of the world committed to promoting initiatives to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and encourage reflection and remembrance.
The anniversary was established in Italy with the law 211/2000, to ensure the commemoration of the extermination and persecutions of the Jewish people and of the Italian military and political deportees in the Nazi camps. The law provides for the organisation of "ceremonies, initiatives, events and shared moments of narration of the facts and reflection" and, in particular, the involvement of schools, "so as to preserve in Italy's future the memory of a tragic and dark period of history in our country and in Europe, and so that similar events can never happen again".
Many events promoted in Italy on the occasion of this day are aimed at a young audience:
- Ministry of Education and Merit organizes various initiatives, among these, the Italian Memory Network
- Tuscany Region as part of the Giovanisì project Memory against indifference
- Rome Capital, Memory generates Future
- Municipality of Bologna an extensive calendar of events (12-31 January)
- National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research (Indire), Remembering is an exercise in memory
On 27 January at 8 pm, RAI Scuola broadcasts the film Edith, a film project made with the participation of students from a class of the "Tito Livio" State Choreographic Secondary School in Milan. The film is based on a true story set in 1944.
On the occasion of the day, there are also some documents and other useful materials for schools and children. Among these, the Guidelines on combating anti-Semitism in schools – available on the website of the Ministry of Education and Merit, in the dedicated news item – which are a support tool for schools.
There is plenty of information available in the School and Memory portal, created by the Ministry of Education and Merit in collaboration with the Union of Italian-Jewish Communities.
Lastly, we would like to mention a selection of books proposed by the A.C. Moro Innocenti Library, useful for getting schoolchildren in touch to the theme of the day and available on the Library's website, in the "Bibliographies" section.
Other materials and news can be found on this site under the topic, Racial discrimination accessible from the "Topics" navigation menu.