Gariwo is the acronym of Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide. Our activity started in 1999 in Milan, with the meeting of the four founders of Gariwo: the President Gabriele Nissim, historian and author of several books on the Righteous, the Honorary consul of the Armenian Republic in Italy Pietro Kuciukian, and the philosophers Ulianova Radice - who passed away in 2018 - and Anna Maria Samuelli, responsible for the Educational Committee.
Our commitment is to promote the knowledge of the Righteous by educating individual responsibility: we believe, indeed, the Memory of the Good to be a powerful educational tool, which is useful for preventing genocides and crimes against Humanity.
With this aim, we create the Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide, thus spreading the message of the individual responsibility. In 2003 we established, along with the Municipality of Milan, the first ever Garden of the Righteous at Monte Stella, located in Milan. The Garden has been managed since 2009 by the Association for the Garden of the Righteous of Milan, which is composed of Gariwo, the Municipality of Milan and the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.
In 2012 the European Parliament proclaimed officially the Day of the Righteous - on March 6th - which was then recognized in Italy as a civil solemnity in 2017, with the denomination of the Day of the Righteous of the Humanity.
Our activity is promoted by institutions, schools, volunteers, a Scientific International Committeeem> and our Ambassadors. Since 2020, Gariwo became a Foundation headquartered in Milan.
The term Righteous comes from the Talmud and states that "whoever saves a life, saves the whole world”. It was applied for the first time in Israel with the Righteous Among the Nations honored in Yad Vashem, with reference to those who rescued Jews from Nazi persecution in Europe. Gariwo was hence founded with the aim of spreading that experience from the memory of the Holocaust to all of those persecutions that are committed against humanity.
Throughout years, we have been searching for stories of the Righteous - both from the past and the present, both famous or not - with the aim of collecting them in an Encyclopedia of the Righteous, which is divided into different sections by genocide or issue. The Encyclopedia has the aim of being a moral and educative landmark, hence becoming - in addition - the biggest container of the Righteous’ exemplar stories
The Committee for the Forest of the Righteous-Gariwo Non-Profit Organization (Onlus) started to operate in Milan in 1999 and was then officially established in 2001. In 2009 it became a Non-Profit Organization (Onlus). On June 16th 2020, the Committee deliberated to transform itself into a Foundation. The Foundation was officially recognized on July 6th 2020 and then subscribed into the appropriate register on July 9th 2020.
All of the Gariwo’s activities are aimed to the diffusion of the message of the Righteous, with the ultimate objective of educating to personal responsibility and genocides’ preservation contribution. Since December 7th 2017, the Day of the Righteous was recognized as a civil solemnity in Italy, thus making our country the first to join officially the Day of the Righteous that had been previously instituted by the European Parliament on May 10th 2012 with the approval - by 388 signatures - of the Gariwo’s proposal of dedicating a recurrence to the Righteous of all genocides. March 6th, a date chosen in honor of Moshe Bejski - Yad Vashem’s Avenue of the Righteous founder - is hence the heart of our activities.
Every year we celebrate, at the Garden of Milan, at the Gardens of the Righteous located in Italy and worldwide, the example of the Righteous from the past and the present in order to spread everywhere the values of responsibility, tolerance and solidarity.
We believe indeed that the stories of the Righteous contribute not only to build memory, but civic identity of young people and students also. With this aim we propose to schools - for instance - educational projects, workshops for teachers, theatrical performances, educational games, and guided visits to the Garden of Milan. In addition we spread, during the whole year, the stories of the Righteous, the knowledge on our topics and the thoughts on memory and genocide through our website, www.gariwo.net, our social media, and all of our official initiatives.
Gabriele Nissim
Gariwo’s President: he tells about and honors the Righteous of Humanity
Pietro Kuciukian
Honorary Consul of the Armenian Republic in Italy, he searches for Righteous and rescuers
Ulianova Radice
from the Mafia’s trials to the stories of the Righteous
Anna Maria Samuelli
a philosopher committed in teachers’ education and activities with schools
To report interesting contents for the website:
[email protected]
To organize events, submit the application of a Righteous or tell us about a project:
[email protected]
To create a Garden of the Righteous:
[email protected]
For initiatives in schools and to delve into our educational projects:
[email protected]
To contact the press office:
[email protected]
To submit a job application:
[email protected]
Gabriele Nissim
Elisabetta Monti
Francesco M. Cataluccio
Martina Landi
Giacomo Corbellini
Helena Savoldelli
Joshua Evangelista
Francesca Donghi
Benedetta Macripò
Shighey Riccioli
Cristina Dal Min
Sabrina Di Carlo
Simone Bettini
Lorenzo Ciapponi
Anna Maria Samuelli
Emanuela Bellotti
Raffaella Crosta
Rosanna Montano
Salvatore Pennisi
Marya Procchio
Carlo Sala
Rita Sidoli
Arianna Tegani
Cristiana Zanetti
The Foundation gathers around its activities people with different ideas, and political or religious beliefs, with the aim of introducing and honoring the worldwide Righteous.
The commitment of our Ambassadors is to contribute, to stimolate and to enrich the debate on Righteous, by pointing out - for instance - in depth analysis instrument, by providing reflections, suggesting significant figures or by helping us to spread the message of the Righteous:
The members of the International Scientific Committee support the initiatives of the Foundation and are involved, with different roles and in different circumstances, into specific researching and disclosing activities:
Since the end of the 90’s, Gariwo has been receiving the support of several personalities, who have been assisting our initiatives and our call for the official recognition of a Day of the Righteous: Avraham Burg; Adriano Dell’Asta; Agnes Grunwald-Spier; Arrigo Levi (1926 - 2020); Riccardo Noury; Martin Palous; Vittorio Emanuele Parsi; Robert Satloff; Baruch Tenembaum; Umberto Veronesi (1925 - 2016).
Gariwo expresses its own opinions publicly only by its Management and inner structures, through its official channels or by official statement of the Foundation. The Foundation is not responsible for individual opinion or personal positions that might be expressed publicly by Gariwo’s Ambassadors or by the members of the International Scientific Committee.
Via Manzoni, 12
20121 Milano
+39 02 36707648
Monday to Friday, 9.30 am - 1.00 pm; 2.30 pm - 17.30 pm