Adolfo Ottolenghi

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Adolfo Ottolenghi (Livorno 1912)
Adolfo Ottolenghi with his wife Regina Tedeschi, Livorno 1911
Plaque in memory of Adolfo Ottolenghi in the Venetian ghetto, installed in 1947

Adolfo Ottolenghi (born July 30, 1885 in Livorno ; died after September 2, 1944 in the Auschwitz concentration camp , Hebrew : אוטולינגי, משה בן אברהם) was a Jewish scholar and chief rabbi of Venice from 1919 to 1944 .

Life

Adolfo was born in Livorno in 1885 to Abramo Avraham and Amalia Avraham, née Ventura. He married Regina Tedeschi Ottolenghi.

He studied at the rabbinical college in Livorno and law at the University of Pisa , where he obtained the title of procuratore legale , with which he intended to pursue a legal career. He also received the Maskil diploma in 1907 and that of Chakham in January 1911.

At the end of 1911 the municipality of Venice offered him the position of secretary of the Fraterna Generale di Culto e Beneficienza , which he accepted. The chief rabbi at that time was Moisè Coen-Porto , and the municipality's president was Giuseppe Musatti . Ottolenghi was rabbi from 1911 to 1919. During this time he looked after Jewish refugees from the First World War , which affected Venice, especially since the front line was not far away. Because of his severe myopia , Ottolenghi himself was excluded from military service. Because of the proximity of the war front, he brought a large part of the community to Livorno.

From May 18, 1919, when he was elected, until his death, he was Chief Rabbi of Venice, after the death of Coen-Porto, Luzzatti and Bassi, the most respected elders of the community. In addition to the work within the community, Ottolenghi was concerned with deciphering the grave inscriptions in the Jewish cemetery on the Lido , whose beautification he devoted himself to, as he dealt with the history of the Jewish community in Venice. In this context he produced a number of monographs, but he also published in the Jewish newspapers, such as the Corriere Israelitico , the Vessillo Israelitico , Israel or the Rassegna mensile di Israel . Because of his services to the city of Venice and its culture, he was elected socio des Ateneo veneto in 1933 .

The expansion of the Jewish school enabled the community to accept all students when they were no longer allowed to study in public schools following the enactment of the Italian race laws of 1938. Before the occupation of the National Socialists , many Jews fled to Venice, whose community members were themselves increasingly marginalized. The president, Giuseppe Jona, committed suicide in 1943, so that Ottolenghi now had to take over this office.

Many parishioners fled to Switzerland. On November 30, 1943, the order was issued to deport the Jewish community and to confiscate its property, and on December 2, the community was notified. On the night of December 5th to 6th, 150 Jews were arrested and taken to the prisons of Santa Maria and on the Giudecca . On December 31, raids took place in the ghetto. Regina Ottolenghi fled in January 1944 and stayed in Treviso until April 7th in the house of the notary Elio Gallina , who procured her forged papers in the name of “Pennella” and enabled her to see her sister in Piedmont . The youngest son Eugenio was also brought to safety in Genoa. Gallina, who brought hundreds to safety in addition to the Ottolenghi family, also took in Carlo Ottolenghi and his wife Annamaria Levi Morenos, as well as their three-year-old son Alberto and his sister Elisabetta, Adolfo's two grandsons. Using forged papers, he was able to bring it to Switzerland under the name “Vianello”.

Previously, part of the community had been deported to Como , including the almost blind Adolfo Ottolenghi, who spent a month in prison. On December 19, 1943, a group of around 40 Jews was deported to the Fossoli camp. Only those over seventy were allowed to return to Venice in early 1944, where they were imprisoned in the Casa di Ricovero Israelitica . In the night from August 17 to 18, 1944, Ottolenghi was finally arrested along with the remaining old people to be deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Stumbling block in front of Ottolenghi's house

He died there after September 2, 1944, the exact date is unknown. On April 28, 1945 Venice, which had since shaken off Nazi rule, was occupied by Italian troops.

Works

  • Per il IV Centenario della scuola Canton. Note storiche sui Templi Veneziani di rito inglese e su alcuni Templi privati ​​con cenni della vita ebraica nei secoli XVI-XIX , Gazzettino Illustrato, Venice 1932.
  • Il Tempio , published by the Convegno di studi ebraici, Venice 1929.
  • with Riccardo Pacifici : L'antico cimitero ebraico di San Nicolò di Lido , in: Rivista di Venezia, May 1928, reprint: Centro storico ebraico di Venezia, Venice 1980 (on the oldest Jewish cemetery near San Nicolò di Lido ).
  • Leon da Modena. Spunti di vita ebraica del Ghetto nel secolo XVII , in: Rivista mensile della città di Venezia 7 (1929) 477-491; again in: Rassegna Mensile di Israel 37 (1971) 739-763.
  • Spigolature storiche di vita ebraica veneziana , in: La Rassegna Mensile di Israel 6.5–6 (1931–32) 211–218.
  • Il Governo democratico di Venezia e l'abolizione del Ghetto , in: Rassegna mensile di Israel 2 (1930) 88-104.
  • Abraham Lattes nei suoi rapporti colla Repubblica di Daniele Manin , in: Rassegna Mensile di Israel 5 (1930) 3-13. ( Digital copy , PDF)

Web links

Commons : Adolfo Ottolenghi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c birth certificate of Adolfo Ottolenghi. In: The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, December 12, 1985, accessed February 11, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b Laura Fano Jacchia: Adolfo Ottolenghi biography "Il rabbino Adolfo Ottolenghi". (PDF) Retrieved February 11, 2015 .
  3. ↑ a b c Italian rabbis directory. Retrieved February 11, 2015 .
  4. ^ Carlo Ottolenghi: Adolfo Ottolenghi biography "sommaria nota biografica". (PDF) Retrieved February 11, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Elio Gallina. Un notaio contro le leggi razziali , website of the City of Padua.
  6. ↑ Elisabetta Ottolenghi provided a testimony for Gallina, who was accepted among the Righteous Among the Nations : Un notaio giusto , Ha Keillah. Bimestrial ebraico torinese. Organo del Gruppo di Studi Ebraici .
personal data
SURNAME Ottolenghi, Adolfo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Venetian Jewish scholar and Chief Rabbi of Venice
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Livorno , Italy
DATE OF DEATH after September 2, 1944
Place of death Auschwitz concentration camp