Print Friendly Version

Conferences

"Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation." The conferences have received coverage from American, Italian-American, Jewish and Italian newspapers, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Fra Noi, VIA, Jewish Exponent, the major Italian daily La Repubblica, The Sun Times, The Times Picayune, The Los Angeles Times, L'ltalo Americano and La Tribuna del Po polo, as well as many local newspapers.

The success of the conferences can be attributed to the close collaboration among the NIAF and organizations and institutions such as Facing History and Ourselves, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, the Jewish Italian Civic Association, and the Italian Embassy.

Those who attended the "Holocaust in Southern Europe" series agree that the conferences were an invaluable educational experience that should continue. An audience member at the March 1995 conference in Miami said, "[Before the conference], I didn't realize the extent of the help many Italians gave to the Jews." Another stated, "It helped update and factually substantiate political, historical and ideological events from 1938 to 1945. I'm so pleased to have participated in it!"

The 1995 Holocaust conference in Miami also premiered a new documentary film, "A Debt to Honor," narrated by Alan Aida and produced by Documentaries International. The film describes the efforts of Italians in saving Jews in Italy during World War II, and offers the testimonies of rescuers living in Italy. An Italian professor who attended the conference said the film would be of great assistance in teaching her students Italian history.

The Raoul Wallenberg Award, bestowed on non-Jews for their help to the Jewish community during World War II, was presented by Sandy Nesoff, director of the New Milford Jewish Center of New Jersey, to Dr. Maria Lombardo for the NIAF's admirable work in creating and coordinating "The Holocaust in Southern Europe" program.

Two of the NIAF's most recent conferences were on Alzheimer's disease and on health care reforms. Ira Magaziner of the White House was the keynote speaker at the Alzheimer's conference. The "U.S. Health Care Reform" conference was sanctioned as a Mini White House Conference on Aging. Both NIAF conferences were funded and co-sponsored by the Sigma Tau Pharmaceuticals Foundation, with collaboration from the White House and the National Institute of Health.

Giancarlo Schettino, former Director of Public Relations for Sigma Tau, said in his introduction to the 1994 U.S. Health Care Reform” conference that health care reform is “undoubtedly the most urgent social problem facing the U.S.”