Remembrance Day 2024 in Florence

All the most important initiatives on the occasion of January 27th that remembers the victims of the Holocaust

If learning about the past always remains an indispensable value for every nation and every society, this value becomes even more significant in the case of Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the victims of the Holocaust. In particular, 27 January 1945 commemorates when the Soviet army in Poland discovered the Auschwitz concentration camp, bringing to light the shocking Nazi lager extermination programme.

In Florence, the Italian Auschwitz Memorial reopened last summer with tours and in-depth studies. It can be visited three times a week, on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Sundays from 3.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. and on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For information and bookings write to info@musefirenze.it or call 055 2768224. The service operates Monday to Saturday from 9.30 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm. Sundays and holidays from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. Visits are free of charge, take place in small groups and last 50 minutes.

On the occasion of Remembrance Day, several events have been organised at the Italian Auschwitz Memorial, but also throughout the rest of the city, let's see them together.

• At the Deportation Memorial (viale Giannotti 81/85, Fi), where the Memorial of the Italians at Auschwitz is set up, there is also a double event on Wednesday 24 January. At 10 a.m., in collaboration with the Florentine section of the National Association of Former Deportees to Nazi Camps, there will be a presentation of 'Sempre con me. Le lezioni della Shoah" by Emanuele Fiano, during which Ugo Caffaz will dialogue with the author. In the afternoon, from 3.00 p.m., an in-depth initiative on political deportation, with the involvement of the Tuscan sections of the ANED.

• Wednesday 24 January, 5.30 p.m. Reading not to forget XXIX edition
  Presentation of Piero Stefani's book "La parola a loro. Dialogues and theatrical texts on racism, deportations and the Shoah" (La Giuntina, 2023) Readings by the students of the Liceo Classico Alberti-Dante (Luisa Sineo and Paola Biglione).
  Readings by the students of the Liceo Classico Alberti-Dante Luisa Sineo and Paola Biglione
  Participation is free of charge and booking is recommended via the dedicated online platform or by contacting the Library on 055 261 6512 and at bibliotecadelleoblate@comune.fi.it

• On Thursday 25 January at the Cinema Teatro La Compagnia in the morning there will be a meeting with schools, then in the afternoon at 5 pm there will be a screening of the documentary C'è un soffio di vita solo on the life of Lucy Salani. The latter event, promoted in collaboration with the Permanent Regional Table of Comparison with Associations Committed to Combating Discrimination on the grounds of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, sees the participation of director and activist Simone Cangelosi.

• Friday 26 January at 3pm: an in-depth look at Hitler's visit to Florence. The focus will be on the sketch, made by the painter Silvio Polloni, of the set-up with Nazi decorations prepared to welcome the Führer's speech in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (today Piazza Repubblica), once the beating heart of the Florentine Jewish ghetto. The work symbolically constitutes the last piece of the exhibition "The Jews, the Medici and the Ghetto of Florence", currently housed in Palazzo Pitti. Tomorrow's in-depth discussion will be led by historian Piergabriele Mancuso, researcher of the Medici Archive Project and curator of the exhibition itself. The focus, scheduled at 3 p.m., will be broadcast live on the Galleries' Fb page.

Bozzetto Polloni

• Friday 26 January at 6 p.m. at the Deportation Memorial: Objects that tell. Traces of Roma and Sinti history between past and present, an initiative of the University of Florence's European project "Tracer - Transformative Roma Art and Culture for European Remembrance".

• The Deportations Memorial will also host on Saturday 27 January the performance of the Fiesole Choir "Bella Ciao", organised in collaboration with the Gavinana section of the ANPI - National Association of Italian Partisans.

• A walk to the stumbling stones in the Rifredi area will be held on Saturday 27 January, starting at 9.30 a.m. from the stumbling stone in Via del Romito 46.

• Saturday 27 January at 5.30 pm at the SMS Rifredi in Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 303.
  Theatrical performance In the Lagers we were there too. The extermination of the Pink Triangles.

• Devised and dramatised by Gaetano Pacchi, it recounts the persecution and massacre of homosexuals in the concentration camps by the Nazis. Presented by the ANPI sections A.M.E Agnoletti and Rifredi with the collaboration of the company "Attori e Convenuti" and the cultural association "Arte e Arti" (free admission).

• Friday 2 February at 9 p.m. at the Teatro delle Spiaggie in Via del Pesciolino, 26. Theatrical performance Dov'è finito lo zio coso. Based on the novel "Lo zio coso" by Alessandro Schwed with Gianni Poliziani and Alessandro Waldergan. Adaptation and direction by Manfredi Rutelli and original music by Paolo Scatena (paying performance).