Reading of the Names

Please Note
This event takes place outdoors in front of the Consulate General of Italy in New York
(690 Park Avenue between 69th and 70th street)

No RSVP required

GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA 2024

Partners in the initiative are:
Centro Primo Levi
Italian Cultural Institute
Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò at NYU
Calandra Institute at CUNY
Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi
Magazzino Italian Art
Center for Italian Modern Art

Each January 27, we read the names of 9,700 Jewish men, women and children deported from Italy and the Italian territories between 1943 and 1945. The ceremony is open to the public and held outdoors, in front of the Consulate General of Italy. Everyone can join and read.

Giorno della Memoria (Remembrance Day) commemorates the day of 1945 in which Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Army. European countries and the UN mark this day with programs and ceremonies to create public awareness of the past, foster civil dialogue, and counter racism, intolerance, and xenophobia in today’s societies.

Song of Dead in Vain, Primo Levi, 1984

Sit down and negotiate
All you like, grizzled old foxes.
We’ll wall you up in a splendid palace
With food, wine, good beds and a fire
As long as you bargain and negotiate
Your children’s lives and your own.
May all the wisdom of the universe
Converge to bless your minds
And guide you in the labyrinth.
But out in the cold we’ll wait for you,
The army of the dead in vain.
We of the Marne, of Montecassino,
Treblinka, Dresden and Hiroshima.
And with us will be
The lepers and the trachomatoses,
The disappeared of Buenos Aires,
The dead of Cambodia and the dying of Ethiopia,
The plea bargains of Prague,
The bloodless of Calcutta,
The innocent mangled in Bologna.
Woe to you if you come out disagreeing:
You’ll be clutched tight in our embrace.
We are invincible because we are the vanquished,
Invulnerable because already silent; We laugh at your missiles.
Sit down and bargain Until your tongues are dry.
If the havoc and the shame continue
We’ll drown you in our rottenness.

Canto dei morti invano, Primo Levi, 1984

Sedete e contrattate,
A vostra voglia, vecchie volpi argentate
Vi mureremo in un palazzo splendido
Con cibo, vino, buoni letti e buon fuoco
Purché trattiate e contrattiate
Le vite dei vostri figli e le vostre.
Che tutta la sapienza del creato
Converga a benedire le vostre menti
E vi guidi nel labirinto.
Ma fuori al freddo vi aspetteremo noi,
L’esercito dei morti invano,
Noi della Marna e di Montecassino,
Di Treblinka, di Dresda e di Hiroscima:
E saranno con noi
I lebbrosi e i tracomatosi,
Gli scomparsi di Buenos Aires,
I morti di Cambogia e i morituri d’Etiopia,
I patteggiati di Praga,
Gli esangui di Calcutta,
Gl’innocenti straziati a Bologna.
Guai a voi se uscirete discordi:
Sarete stretti dal nostro abbraccio.
Siamo invincibili perché siamo i vinti.
Invulnerabili perché già spenti:
Noi ridiamo dei vostri missili.
Sedete e contrattate
Finché la lingua vi si secchi:
Se dureranno il danno e la vergogna
Vi annegheremo nella nostra putredine.