Risiera: the Jewish persecution
Before the Second World War, the 5,000 Jews living in Triestine had formed part of an age-old community, which was well established in the cultural and economic life of the city.
After the passing of the Fascist Racial Laws of 1938, and the setting-up in Trieste of one of the most notorious "Centres for the Study of the Jewish problem" (one of four such institutes set up in Italy), many Jewish families decided to emigrate and thus escape Fascist persecution.
Nevertheless, after 8 September 1943, Fascists and Nazis succeeded in capturing and deporting more than 700 Triestine Jews to the extermination camps. Only about 20 of these survived to make the journey home at the end of the War.
The vast majority of these ill-fated people - including entire families with a great many children - passed through the Risiera di San Sabba which acted as a kind of "sorting" camp for the Jews. Hundreds of these unfortunate people were rounded up from Veneto, Friuli, Istria and Dalmazia, passing through San Sabba en-route to other destinations. Sadly, following a short stay in Trieste, the vast majority were sent to Auschwitz.
(Translation by Corey Dimarco)
