A document in the archives of the Pontifical Biblical Institute holds the names of over 3,000 Jewish people who took shelter in Catholic institutions in Rome during Nazi persecution. The Hebrew Community of Rome and the International Holocaust Research Institute examined the document and rediscovered this list that was considered lost.
CLAUDIO PROCACCIA
Director, Jewish Community of Rome
It was found in the forgotten papers of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, which did not have a proper archivist and, therefore, this study, for a number of reasons that are still not entirely clear, was completely forgotten. Once it was rediscovered, the Jewish community of Rome began a collaboration to better understand the contents of this document and obtain all the necessary scientific evidence.
The list contains the names of 3,200 Jewish people. The names are being cross-examined with other documents to verify the identity of the people.
CLAUDIO PROCACCIA
Director, Jewish Community of Rome
The archives of the police headquarters of Rome’s state archives are fundamental. We are thinking of the papers of the central state archives, but also those of the religious institutes and the secret archives of the Vatican. So we really have a lot of sources to cross-reference. Then, there are the memoirs, the oral sources already recorded.
Together with all the other documents, it is possible to reconstruct whole sections of a history that is otherwise in danger of being lost and forgotten.
During the months of the Nazi occupation of Rome, 2,000 Jews were deported. The Director of the Jewish Community of Rome says that some of them lived in this area near the Synagogue.
Source: Rome Reports