Conference on the Righteous in Milan

KJ, 16 November 2016
A conference on "Le virtù dei Giusti e l'identità dell'Europa" (”The Virtues of the Righteous and European Identity”) took place between 9th and 13th November in Milan at the city’s town hall (Palazzo Marino). It was organised by Gariwo, an Italian non-profit organisation, responsible for the creation of the European Day of the Righteous.

The Milan conference is one of the activities associated with next year’s first celebration of the European Day of the Righteous. The European Parliament in Strasbourg decided that the official day will be 6th March.

According to Gariwo, the Righteous are not only those who saved Jews from the Holocaust,  but  also includes everyone who, in the face of genocide or totalitarianism, fights for human dignity, aids victims and fights for the truth in spite of any official bans to the contrary.

Until now, Gariwo has honoured Righteous through the planting of trees in their memory in Milan’s Garden of the Righteous, located on Mount Stella. Now, the organisation aims at promoting reflection on the basic human values understood with European identity and represented through the virtues of the Righteous.

Academics, main philosphers, took part in the conference. The event was aimed mainly at teachers.

Comitato per la Foresta dei Giusti – Gariwo (The Garden of the Righteous Committee) is an Italian non-profit, aimed at creating Gardens of the Righteous, similar to that at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, all over the world.. Gariwo is a partner in ”The Polish Righteous – Recalling Memory” project.

www.gariwo.net