A nun, a clinic and the courage to say no to persecution. It’s the story of sister Luigia Gazzolaan Italian nun who was recognized for saving some Jews during the Nazi occupation Righteous Among the Nations (a tribute for non-Jews who, during the Shoah, acted heroically at the risk of their own lives and without personal interest to save one or people from the Nazi genocide).
Sister Luigia was born in 1900 in Altivole, in the province of Treviso. While still young, she entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Maria Bambina, choosing a life dedicated to the assistance and care of the most fragile. After years of religious training, she was destined to work in the healthcare sector and during the years of the Second World War she became mother superior of the Zucchi clinic in Carate Brianza, in Lombardy. Right here on March 5th, the day of his birth, a ceremony remembered his courage.
It all happened after 8 September 1943: with the German occupation of northern Italy, the situation for the Jews became dramatic. Arrests and deportations multiplied and many sought safe havens to avoid capture. In that climate of fear and repression, Sister Luigia decided to act. The clinic he ran became a place of protection for some fleeing Jewish people.
Among these were Lea Milla and her daughter Serena, left alone after their father, uncle and other relatives had been deported to Auschwitz (from which they did not return). Sister Luigia chose to welcome them into the facility, despite knowing that, if discovered, she would risk serious consequences. To avoid the controls of the fascist authorities and the German military, came up with an ingenious solution: he hid the women in the psychiatric ward of the clinic, in rooms occupied by patients considered difficult. It was an area that the soldiers preferred not to check thoroughly, and this very stratagem allowed them to avoid suspicion.
Thanks to the discretion of the nuns and the internal organization of the structure, the hidden Jews managed to remain safe until the end of the war. Sister Luigia never sought recognition for what she had done and for many years her story remained little known.
Only thanks to the testimonies of survivors and subsequent research the fundamental role that the nun had in saving those lives emerged. For this reason, the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem awarded her the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
Sister Luigia Gazzola died in 1983. Her gesture, born from a choice of conscience and a profound sense of humanity, remains today a testimony of solidarity and courage in one of the most dramatic moments in European history.
