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Righteous 2024
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New Righteous for 2024 ceremony at Milan Garden
Altiero Spinelli, Vera Vigevani Jarach, Jurij Dmitriev and Narges Mohammadi are the figures who will be honored as the new Righteous in 2024. It was decided by the Assembly of the Association for Milan Garden of the Righteous - composed by the Gariwo Foundation, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Municipality of Milan - which also chose the theme for the March 6 celebrations at the Monte Stella Garden in Milan. The Day of the Righteous of Humanity 2024 will be titled "Remembrance and Responsibility. The example of the Righteous in the face of challenges of our time."
Altiero Spinelli
Politician and writer, he began his antifascist militancy when he was just seventeen, in response to the Matteotti murder. In 1927 he was arrested in a bar in Milan because he was considered a dangerous element by Mussolini's regime. From that time, Spinelli began a long period of imprisonment in Fascist jails, also being imprisoned in Ventotene, an island of confinement for political dissidents during the dictatorship. There, Spinelli drafted, along with Eugenio Colorni and Ernesto Rossi, For a Free and United Europe. A Draft Manifesto, better known as the Ventotene Manifesto.
Vera Vigevani Jarach
Behind her melancholy gaze, Vera Vigevani Jarach hides the deep wounds marked by two dictatorships, which in different eras have deprived her of her dearest affections in an excruciating way. A grandfather deported and killed in Auschwitz in 1943, a daughter 18 years old kidnapped, killed and disappeared by the Argentine military coup leaders a little over three decades later.
Jurij Dmitriev
Jurij Dmitriev is a Russian historian, director of Karelia regional section of Memorial. He has been working with Memorial since the 1990s, with the aim of compiling "memory books" - anthologies containing thousands of names and biographies of victims of Stalinism in Karelia - and revealing the Soviet shooting sites of Sandormoch and Krasnyj Bor. Since 2014, when Dmitriev publicly denounced Russia’s occupation of Crimea in the presence of local officials, he has been subjected to increasing pressure and to three trials, all of which were marked by serious violations of the right of defence, leading to his sentencing to 15 years in a penal colony.
Narges Mohammadi
Iranian activist, in 2009 she became vice-president of DHRC, Defenders of Human Rights Center, an organization that has been defending conscience and political prisoners in judicial proceedings. Narges Mohammadi has dedicated her life to the struggle for human rights in Iran against the oppression of Iran's theocracy. Her last arrest was on April 21, 2022, when she was sentenced to eight years in prison for alleged crimes against Iran's national security.
Topical News
The Garden of the Righteous: the idea and the institution
We share the speech given by Anna Ziarkowska, President of the Warsaw Garden of the Righteous Foundation, at Seoul University (South Korea) on November 23, 2023. "The Warsaw Garden is first and foremost a place of stories not of evil, but of good. By evoking the stories of the Righteous, they are brought back to life".
A place to remember the Slovenian Righteous: the Judovski Kulturni Center
"Our job is to keep the memory alive and prevent something similar from happening again," this is what Robert tells me in the end of our interview. Robert Waltl is an actor, theater director and puppeteer. He is also the director of the Judovski Kulturni Center, created to preserve Jewish culture and promoting tolerance and solidarity. The center has also collected the stories of 16 Righteous Slovenians, men and women who during the darkest time for Jews decided not to look the other way but to take action to save their lives, or at least make it a little easier for them. By Alessandro Colombini
A light in the dark: Neve Shalom Wahat al-Salam and the challenge of peace
In the village in Israel where Palestinian Arab and Israeli Jewish families peacefully coexist, the ongoing war is a big challenge. The citizens of Neve Shalom Wahat al-Salam practice exercises in dialogue and confrontation, continuing their daily lives despite the roar of bombs and the sound of planes. In this context, the presence of a Garden of the Righteous, a reminder of the courageous choices made by those who chose good, takes on a more powerful role than ever before. By Sara Del Dot
Never again is now
The cultural and political battle we are fighting in Germany for the safety of our fellow Jewish citizens is the same that is opposing islamophobia and racism. It is a major challenge for mutual respect and civil coexistence. For this, everyone’s commitment is needed. For this, those words projected on the Brandenburg Gate on November 9 – eighty-five years after the Night of Broken Glass – are nothing but the thin line separating German democracy from its failure: “Never again is now”. Now, it is time to choose your side. By Simone Zoppellaro
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A voice from Gaza: "It looks like hell, nowhere is safe"
“The situation is indescribable on the ground. We have passed through many wars, but we did never experienced this massive distraction, random targets to full neighborhoods, with and without warning at times.” Asia, 31 years old and mother of two children, speaks to us directly from Gaza Strip. She takes several hours to send her testimony to us because, with her whole family, she’s keeping on moving looking for a place to take shelter. Israel has said to 1 million Gaza people to evacuate the North of the Strip, but they do not know where to take refuge. By Sara Del Dot
Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi, Gabriele Nissim (Gariwo): "Our dream is to have her in Milan for the next Day of the Righteous"
Gariwo Foundation congratulates with the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding the Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi with the Nobel Peace Prize 2023. Sentenced to 10 years in prison by a kangaroo court, Narges is imprisoned in Teheran at the moment. “We ask the Italian government a strong and effective commitment for the Narges' release in Iran. Italy should be in the front line and work to convince the international community to put pressure on Teheran for the liberation of this extraordinary woman”: Gabriele Nissim, President of Gariwo Foundation. “Our dream is to have her with us at Milan Garden of the Righteous for the next Day of the Righteous ceremony”.
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About us
Gariwo is the acronym of Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide.
We are a Non-Profit Organization based in Milan, with international coworkers.
Since 1999 we have worked to make the people aware about the Righteous: we think that the memory of Good is a powerful educational tool and can help prevent cases of genocide and crimes against Humanity.
This is why we create Gardens of the Righteous worldwide and use the communication means, social networks and public events to spread the message of responsibility. From the European Parliament we have obtained the establishment of the European Day of the Righteous - 6 March.
Our activity is supported by institutions, schools, volunteers, an International Scientific Committee and our 'Ambassadors'.
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The Gardens of the Righteous
The Gardens are like open books that tell the Righteous’ stories.
They are public spaces, places of memory, meeting and dialogue. Here it’s possible to organize initiatives for students and citizens, to keep alive the examples of the Righteous all the year round, not only by planting new trees.
The Garden of Milan was born in 2003 at Monte Stella Park. The Association for the Garden of the Righteous - formed by Gariwo, Milan City Hall and UCEI - was created in 2008, and it takes care of the Garden activities.
Every year, a lot of Gardens arise in cities and schools in Italy and all over the world.
Our aim is to create a widespread network to connect everybody who believes in these topics.
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European Day of the Righteous
On 10 May 2012, the Parliament in Strasbourg approved Gariwo’s call establishing the European Day of the Righteous on 6 March - remembering the death of Moshe Bejski, the creator of the Avenue of the Righteous. On 7 December 2017 Italy became the first country to officially join the marking of that recurrence, with the law that establishes also at the national level a Day in memory of the Righteous of the humanity. Starting from Yad Vashem, we have extended the meaning of the term “Righteous” including men and women who saved lives in all the genocides and defended human dignity during totalitarianisms.
Every year we celebrate the example of the Righteous of past and of the present, to spread the values of responsibility, tolerance and solidarity.
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The Charter of responsibilities 2017
The Charter of responsibilities 2017 arises from the collective reflection proposed by Gariwo through the series of meetings The crisis of Europe and the Righteous of our time, held in cooperation with Teatro Franco Parenti - Accademia del Presente and under the patronage of Università degli Studi di Milano and the Corriere della Sera Foundation.
The Charter, inspired by the experience of Charta ’77 and subscribed by important personalities from the world of culture and society, represents our ethical commitment for the memory of Good and the education to responsibility, to reaffirm the value of plurality, of peace and non violence, as opposed to the culture of hatred and enemy.
Iran
Names, faces and hopes of Iran's best youth
The latest report published by the well-known organization Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) is a meticulous work that allows us to learn about the names, faces, stories, and conditions of over 150 human rights defenders. Unknown names alongside those better known in the West, embodying the struggle of an entire people against the Iranian regime. Cristina Giudici interviewed for GariwoMag Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Iran Human Rights.
A Foundation for the Righteous
Gariwo along with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation
On January 9th, in Warsaw, Gariwo’s and Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation’s representatives, along with a member of the Warsaw Garden of the Righteous Committee, Jozèf Wancer, instituted the International Garden of the Righteous Foundation. The establishment of the Foundation was announced in a press conference held in Warsaw in occasion of the 2023 European Day of the Righteous.
Iran
A dance with the Iranian community at the Milan's Garden
A gallery of the pictures taken during the event organized by Gariwo Foundation, along with the Association of the Iranian’s diaspora Maana, in occasion of the Sizdah bedar, the Iranian’s Day of nature. It was a morning of celebration, but also of discussion on very important topics alongside the Iranian community. A very emotional moment was, particularly, the dancing one, which was guided by the professional Iranian dancer Saba Poori.
Genocide prevention
Memory and knowledge for the prevention of genocides
Genocides and mass atrocities reappear in history in different ways but with similar mechanisms, languages, and dynamics. Therefore, knowing how to read, recognize and bring them to the world's attention is fundamental for preventing such crimes. That is why the knowledge of what happens inextricably links to memory so that we can keep the promise of "never again." But what are the most severe and urgent scenarios of genocide and mass atrocities today?
