An event dedicated to the history of Jews in the Garda area before the Holocaust will take place on Tuesday, August 27, at 8:30 PM at the Mure (Museum of Recoverers) in Toscolano Maderno. Professor and journalist Bruno Festa will present the evening titled “Jewish Schools and Agricultural Enterprises in Maderno and on Lake Garda 1934-1938,” exploring the context of anti-Jewish racial laws in Italy and the decisions made by many Jewish families who, in response to the rise of Nazism, sent their children abroad to attend schools or kibbutzim.
Festa will highlight the significance of the schools operating in the Garda area during that period, with three institutions active between 1934 and 1938. He will also provide an overview of the life of Maurizio Benghiat, a Brescia-born Jew whose story is recounted in his book “No Moon in the Sky: From Garda to Auschwitz.” Benghiat was arrested in December 1943 and deported to Auschwitz, where he perished shortly after his arrival. The event aims to raise public awareness of a often-overlooked chapter in local history.
