By Sandra Silverstein
SAN DIEGO– The San Diego Italian Film Festival will host a party Oct. 9 to celebrate the film Shores of Light: Salento 1945-1947 which tells the story of Holocaust survivors awaiting immigration to Palestine in displaced persons camps in Puglia – the closest point to Palestine by sea: The Aliyah Bet. The San Diego Jewish Film Festival is a community partner to this event.
During this period, two war devastated communities, Pugliese villagers and Jewish survivors, came together and found rebirth of spirit. Survivor testimony tells the story.
Moshe Ron reminisces, “I felt we were welcome. It was after this war in which we were hunted for years – years of being subhuman. Suddenly, you came upon a foreign population the language [of which] you don’t understand. They live from moment to moment and they relate to us so nicely…This was for me something very great. Kennst Du das Land, wo die Zitronen Blühn?” (Do you know the land where the Citron blooms?) he adds, quoting the immortal Goethe poem.
Sharing the fisherman’s catch, garden produce, field gleanings, relief packages, the refugees came to the table together. Again, the refugees tell it best:
“I remember once when the fishermen caught a sea turtle… a huge one – it weighed more than 100 kilos. The joy of the fishermen that finally have something to eat was great. They invited everybody that passed by to join in the meal. We, of course, did not eat because this was not kosher, but this is irrelevant. They invited everybody that passed by, everyone that arrived to …join. I don’t think there are any other people, any other place, another population that one can speak similarly of them.”
Jewish institutions including a synagogue, canteen, orphanage and hospital were set up. More than 1000 babies were born. Today, the synagogue is a gelateria.
In Santa Maria al Nardo, one can visit the small Museo della Memoria e dell’Acoglienza, (Museum of Memory and Welcome), commemorating this time. It is supported by the municipality, aided by Jewish organizations and staffed mainly by a group of young, local volunteers. Three restored murals by one of the refugees, Romanian-born Zvi Miller, form the centerpiece of the museum. one shows a lighted menorah; one depicts the journey of Jews from southern Italy toward Palestine; and the third shows a Jewish mother and a child asking a British soldier to allow them to enter. Miller, who lost his family in the Holocaust, married a local girl who converted to Judaism and immigrated to Israel with him.
(http://jewish-heritage-travel.blogspot.com/2009/01/italy-new-museum-of-memory-and-welcome.html)
To recreate the spirit of this very special moment in history, four of San Diego’s premiere chefs will showcase two Italian cooking traditions: Cucina Pugliese, and the Italian cooking tradition Marcella Hazan found in the kitchen of her Jewish mother in law, “a tradition of which I knew nothing: the tradition of the Italian Jews.” Cucina Ebraica
The documentary film, Shores of Light: Salento 1945-1947”will be presented by director Yael Katzir at the event. The film follows three Israeli women, born in the Salento, on a return journey to the place of which their parents spoke so warmly.
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MANGIAMO INSIEME: TWO PEOPLES, TWO CULTURES: ONE TABLE
October 9, 2016 5:00 p.m. ; Museum of Photographic Art; Price: $75.00
$60.00 Discounted Price Available to Members of Partner Organizations of the SDJFF on the Italian Film Festival Website. Use Code SDJFF2016
http://www.sandiegoitalianfilmfestival.com/film/shores-of-light-salento-1945-47/
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THE CHEFS
Accursio Lota: Solare
Francesca Penoncelli: Bice
Matteo Cattaneo: Buona Forchetta
Palma Belingheiri: Private chef and culinary educator
Also featuring:
Cantina della Volta, Fattoria Zerbina, Bread & Cie, Sweetaly Dolceria, Gaia Gelato, Caffe Arcidiacono.
Special thanks HW & MC Cohen Trust
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Silverstein is a longtime volunteer with the San Diego Jewish Film Festival.