Ulianova Radice
Founder of the Committee
"Per la Foresta Mondiale dei Giusti-Gariwo"

I am delighted and honoured to be taking part in the commemoration of Giacomo Gorrini, the Italian consul in Trebizond, on behalf of the Committee "Per la Foresta Mondiale dei Giusti-Gariwo" . This Committee was formed in Italy, in Milan, approximately a year ago, on the initiative of an Armenian and a Jew, who decided to join forces to achieve a common project. Piero Kuciukian had just set up the International Committee of the Righteous for the Armenians - Memory is the Future, while Gabriele Nissim had concluded his research into a politician who prevented the deportation of Bulgaria's entire Jewish community in 1943, publishing his book The man who stopped Hitler.

Kuciukian and Nissim belong to two peoples whose very existence risked extermination during World War II. Now their joint resolve is to safeguard the memory of any genocides perpetrated in the world against any people. The project that prompted them to create the Committee "Per la Foresta Mondiale dei Giusti-Gariwo" is not limited, however, simply to heightening awareness and preserving the memory of evil. As the name itself suggests, the purpose of the Committee is to search for and extol the stories of those who opposed the genocides, those who raised their voices in protest or refused to take part. The people who managed to transcend indifference and hear the still small voice of their own conscience always found some way of intervening, either by saving lives or by speaking out against the evil being perpetrated. Even the smallest gesture can mean a lot in a sea of hostility.

The example came to us from the experience of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, where they have created an Avenue of the Righteous, to commemorate the non-Jews who saved Jewish lives and opposed the Shoah. Singling out good in a wasteland of evil by acknowledging the merits of the Righteous means keeping the flame of hope burning for the future, sending a positive signal, a beacon for the new generations so that they won't interpret the history of the twentieth century simply as the triumph of evil and the powerlessness of good. Young people should not be allowed to believe that violence, force, prevarication, the power of the State or of criminal organizations are invincible. The deeds of the Righteous demonstrate that anyone can find the strength within themselves to stand up against the persecution of their fellows, against the blind acceptance of ideas, against indifference, if they know how to listen to their inner voice.

Here in Armenia you have chosen this path by remembering those who opposed the genocide of your people or who denounced it to the world, people such as Armin Wegner, Anatole France and, today Giacomo Gorrini.
The Righteous also have another extremely important role: they restore the victims' faith in their fellow men, help them not to despair about the fate of the world, and they break the chain of hate by reopening the dialogue between the persecuted and the nation responsible for genocide, thus preventing blame from falling on the heads of a whole people; as Etty Hillesum said in Germany during the Holocaust, if there is even one good German, he will save the entire German people from the hatred of the persecuted Jews and from the shame of the world.
The stories of Turks who helped the Armenians in the terrible years of the Metz Yeghern, recounted by Piero Kuciukian in his book Voices in the desert help us not to lose hope, along with the Turkish citizens who are still ostracized and victimized in their own country for having acknowledged the genocide. Their presence confirms the importance of the Righteous and strengthens our resolve in supporting their cry. Our best hope for the Armenian nation is that they will manage to get those Turks who have proved themselves open to dialogue, loyal and faithful to truth and friends of the Armenian people, to come here over the next few years and to be acknowledged as Righteous people.

It is only recently in Europe that the extermination of your people has been acknowledged by the governments or parliaments of the various States such as France and Italy, who have at last ignored the forceful and threatening pressure exerted by Turkey. Now the Pope too has admitted the existence of the genocide.
We regret that the president of the Department for the Righteous of Yad Vashem, Mordechai Paldiel, is not here with us, as he had promised. We met him at the international conference organized by our Committee in Padua last December: on that occasion we listened to the account of his valuable experience and we would have liked to be together here today too in order to tackle the difficult and laborious defence of memory against all attempts at denial and oblivion.
The Padua conference marked our first attempt at research and reflection on the Righteous, starting in fact from the Jewish and Armenian experience. Scholars from all over the world took part, bringing testimony of Righteous people such as Sofia Kossak and Giorgio Perlasca, Beatrice Rohner and Armin Wegner.
The City of Padua hosted us and supported our project, defining itself "Home of the Righteous". The councillor for cultural affairs, Giuliano Pisani, has asked me to express the City's best wishes and support for the commemoration of the Righteous Giacomo Gorrini. As an Italian, Gorrini is particularly close to our hearts, having honoured our people too with his efforts in support of the Armenian people.
The Committee "Per la Foresta Mondiale dei Giusti-Gariwo" is committed to continuing its search for the gestures of these men and women all over the world, against every genocide, and to planting trees to commemorate their deeds, creating further gardens of the Righteous, like the one in Jerusalem, and thus forming one great, ideal Garden of the Righteous Worldwide.
In Sarajevo we have been joined by a brave woman, Svetlana Broz, who has been promoting this project in her own city, symbol of the tragedy of ethnic cleansing, after criss-crossing Bosnia and recording the stories of the persecuted and especially their accounts of the men and women who helped, and sometimes saved them, despite being on the other side of the ethnic divide: yet more Righteous people to be acknowledged and made known.
I believe that our commitment to this project is the best tribute our Committee can pay here, today, to the memory of a Righteous man such as Giacomo Gorrini.

• back to events