Giovanni Palatucci collection

Giovanni Palatucci (1909-1945) was born in Montella, Italy, in Avellino province. He became a police officer in 1937 and was transferred from Genoa to Fiume. He headed the office for foreigners at the local police headquarters in Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia), where he aided Jewish refugees by issuing residence and transit permits, delaying internment orders, and directing refugees clandestinely by sea to Bari. He was arrested by the Gestapo on September 13, 1944, imprisoned and tortured in Trieste, and deported to Dachau, where he died on February 10, 1945. In 1955, he was posthumously awarded a gold medal from the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities, and he was recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations in 1990.