Stories of Italian Diplomats who saved Jews During II World War. In particular two of many: Guelfo Zamboni (1897 – 1994) Consul General of Italy in Thessaloniki (Greece) in 1942-43 and Giorgio Perlasca (1910 - 1992) “Jorge” Perlasca (fake) Consul of Spain in Budapest (Hungary) in 1944-45

1. Ordinary Stories of
Italian Diplomats
who rescued Jews
By Stefano Baldi

2. Two of many
Guelfo Zamboni (1897 – 1994)
Consul General of Italy in
Thessaloniki (Greece) in 1942-43
Giorgio Perlasca (1910 - 1992)
“Jorge” Perlasca
(fake) Consul of Spain in
Budapest (Hungary) in 1944-45
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 2

3. Common paths
• Ordinary heroes
• More persons involved
• Use of imposture for a good cause
• Stories unknown for many years (role of books and TV)
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 3
• In 1989 the State of Israel awarded Giorgio Perlasca with the title of
Righteous among the Nations
• In 1992 the State of Israel awarded Guelfo Zamboni with the title of
Righteous among the Nations.

4. Guelfo Zamboni
• 1942 - Zamboni appointed Consul General for
Italy in Thessaloniki, a town occupied by Nazi
Germany.
• Thessaloniki hosted the world's largest
community (56,000) of Sephardic Jews, many of
Italian descent.
• March - August 1943 - Germans deported nearly
all of Thessaloniki's Jewish population to
concentration and death camps.
• 1943 – Zamboni (with the help of Captain Lucillo
Merci and having informed Pellegrino Ghigi in
Athens) began to issue “Provisional Certificates of
Italian nationality”… which allowed Italian Jews to
avoid deportation.
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 4

5. Provisional!
4 June 1943 - Temporary
Certificate of Italian Nationality
Signed by Guelfo Zamboni
“I know they were false
papers, but I marked them
with the writing
«provisional» waiting for a
confirmation!”
G. Zamboni
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 5

6. Giuseppe Castruccio
• 18 June 1943 - Zamboni left
Thessaloniki to return to Rome. His work
in rescuing Jews was continued by his
successor, Giuseppe Castruccio.
• 14 July 1943 - Castruccio organized a
«rescue train» that transported Jews
with Italian passports to Athens (at that
time under Italian occupation).
• 113 Jews and 323 Italians (or presumed
Italians…) were saved.
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 6

7. Sense of Duty
Guelfo Zamboni never told what he had done
in those days.
He remained quite unknown in Italy until the
eve of his 95 birthday (1992), when he gave
his first interview after being awarded the title
of "Righteous among the Nations".
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 7
“I have only done my duty”

8. Books and other works
on Guelfo Zamboni
• Daniel Carpi, “A New Approach to Some Episodes in the History
of the Jews in Salonika during the Holocaust. Memory, Myth,
Documentation”, in the II volume of “The Last Ottoman Century
and Beyond: The Jews in Turkey and the Balkans 1808-1945” edited
by Minna Rozen, The Aviv University
• Antonio Ferrari, Alessandra, and Jannis Chrisafis
(edts.),“Ebrei di Salonicco 1943, i documenti
dell'umanità italiana” (Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv,
2008)
• Luigi Ballerini, “Hanna non chiude mai gli occhi”,
Edizioni San Paolo, 2015
• Theatrical work “Salonicco '43” by Ferdinando Ceriani,
Gian Paolo Cavarai and Antonio Ferrari
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 8

9. Giorgio Perlasca
• November 1943 - Giorgio Perlasca’s native Italy
unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces
while he was working in Hungary at procuring
supplies for the Italian army in the Balkans.
• 13 October 1944 - Using a fake medical he
escaped his internment, traveled to the Spanish
embassy in Budapest and obtained a Spanish
passport.
• Giorgio became “Jorge” and started to
collaborate with with the rescue actions of Jews
that carried out Angel Sanz Briz, the Spanish
Consul in charge of the legation.
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 9

10. The Heroic Impostor
• 30 November 1944 - Ángel Sans Briz and other
officials received orders to vacate.
• Giorgio Perlasca stayed and gave the false
announcement that Sanz Brinz was about to return
and had appointed him as the Consul of Spain.
• He helped organize the hiding (in safe houses),
feeding and transport of thousands of Jews.
• Teamed up with other diplomats, including Raoul
Wallenberg, in combined efforts to bring Jews to
safety.
• May 1945 – Perlasca returns to Italy after the
Russian occupation of Budapest
• Perlasca helped save more than 5,000 Jews
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 10

11. Safe-conducts
”The relatives of all Spaniards in Hungary
require their presence in Spain. Until we are
able to reestablish communications and the
journey back is possible, they will remain
here under the protection of the government
of Spain.”
Issued fake safe-conduct passes claiming that
the Hungarian Jews were Spanish born Jews.
The passes read:
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 11

12. Family Safe-conduct
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 12

13. What we have to do
“I couldn’t stand the sight of people
being branded like animals . . . I
couldn’t stand seeing children being
killed. I did what I had to do.”
• Giorgio Perlasca returned to his family in Italy and
lived quietly.
• That was until 1987 when a group of rescued
Hungarian Jews finally found Giorgio and began
telling others of his heroic actions.
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 13

14. Books
on Giorgio Perlasca
• Enrico Deaglio, La banalità del bene. Storia di
Giorgio Perlasca, Feltrinelli, !991
• Giorgio Perlasca, L’impostore. Le memorie
dello Schindler italiano. Il Mulino, 2007.
• Dalbert Hallenstein – Carlotta Zavattiero,
Giorgio Perlasca. Un italiano scomodo,
Chiarelettere, 2010
• Marco Sonseri and Ennio Bufi, Giorgio
Perlasca. Un uomo comune. Renoir Comics,
2011
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 14

15. Other works
on Giorgio Perlasca
• Film - Perlasca, The Courage of a
Just Man, RAI TV, 2002
• Theatrical work, Il magnifico
impostore by Alessandro
Domeneghini
• Theatrical Work, Il coraggio di dire
no by Alessandro Albertin, 2016
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 15

16. Other Italian diplomats
that rescued Jews
• Alberto Calisse – 1942-1943 – Consul General in Nice.
Opposed the decisions of French authorities who wanted
to deport the Jews
• Vittorio Zoppi (1942 – Consul General in Vichy), and
Gustavo Orlandini in France;
• Vittorio Castellani (First Secretary) in Croatia (1942-43).
Opposed the handing over of the Jews and “assigned” the
Italian citizenships to the highest possible number of
Jewish refugees. nearly 3,000 Croatian Jews and other
foreign Jews were saved
• Luca Pietromarchi, Luigi Vidau, and Roberto Ducci in
Rome, with their work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Mario Di Stefano (First Secretary), Giovanni Soro
(Second Secretary), in Poland (1939 – 1940). Conceded,
between September 1939 and April 1940, an indefinite
number of repatriation documents to Jews who, not being
Italian, would have no rights to it.
Vittorio Castellani
Alberto Calisse
Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 16

17. Italian Diplomats who rescued Jews 17
Giorgio Perlasca (1910-1992) - Italy, Aristides de Sousa Mendes
(1885-1954) - Portugal, Carl Lutz (1895-1975) - Switzerland, Sempo
Sugihara (1900-1986) – Japan, Selahattin Ulkumen (1914-2002) –
Turkey
Israeli stamp – 27 April 1998