Fondazione Villa Emma

The Fondazione Villa Emma (Villa Emma Foundation) is a cultural centre and historic organization established in Nonantola to commemorate the actions of the town and its residents in housing and sheltering 73 Jewish children and youth between Summer 1942 and Fall 1943. A total of 73 youth between the ages of six and 21 arrived in Nonantola over this period in two large refugee groups: the first from Germany and Austria on July 17, 1942, the second from Bosnia and Croatia on April 10, 1943. Originally intending to transit Italy to Barcelona for passage to Palestine, the groups were delayed in receiving permission for travel; the Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants (DELASEM), and Italian/Jewish organization, identified Nonantola’s empty Villa Emma as a location for housing.

Nonantola’s residents organized housing and board for the children; deciding against sending the children to the nearby city of Modena, a school was established including lessons in Judaism and Hebrew as well as Italian. Older youth assist in local agricultural labour. Records from Villa Emma’s managers and charges present a town whose inhabitants are generally hospitable and accepting. With the announcement of the Italian-Allied Armistice and the immediate German occupation of Northern Italy, the situation changes. German troops enter Nonantola on September 9, 1943, and Villa Emma is abandoned; the children are initially hidden within town, but leave quickly in smaller groups with all having departed by October 16. Crossing the border into Switzerland, the groups find shelter; they ultimately continue the journey to Barcelona and finally debark in Palestine following the end of the war in Europe on May 29, 1945.

Two members of the group do not survive the journey. Salomon Papo, age 15, falls ill during his stay in Villa Emma and is hospitalised. He thus remains behind in Italy and is interned by occupying German forces, finally deported to Auschwitz on April 5, 1944, where he is killed. Gofferdo Pacifici, a DELASEM representative, remains behind at the Swiss-Italian border to assist other Jews attempting to seek shelter in Switzerland; he is arrested and deported to Auschwitz.

The Villa Emma Foundation commemorates Nonantola’s role in sheltering these 73 youth, and remembers the loss of two members as part of the Holocaust. Today, the group organizes public history events and conferences in the community to explore Nonantola’s Second World War experience and other themes.