It was officially declared by the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
On February 14, 2017 the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, an educational NGO headed by Eduardo Eurnekian, declared Collegio San Giuseppe, Instituto De Merode as “House of Life”.
The ceremony, held at the institution, meters from the Plaza España of the Italian capital, was attended by more than two hundred people.
During the Nazi occupation the San Giuseppe College clandestinely opened its doors to the persecuted, mostly Jews, and gave them food, assistance and medicines until the end of the war.
The director of the school, Father Alessandro Cacciotti, and the representative of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, Silvia Costantini, opened the event and illustrated the audience on the “Houses of Life” program.
Then there was an audiovisual presentation for the students of the school.
The president of the Museum of the Shoah, Mario Venezia, the president of the Jewish community in Rome, Ruth Dureghello, and the president of the National Union of Jewish Communities in Italy, Noemi Di Segni, also spoke to the audience.
The ceremony was completed with testimonies from people saved at the school and their descendants. Among them, Fausto Zabban, Gianni Polgar, Paolo Emilio Barbano and Maria Giovanna Barbano.
The closing of the act was in charge of Father Robert Schieler, secretary general of the Community of Merode.
Translation: IRWF
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