Italian Jewish children take part in a play to celebrate Shavuot.
Overview
- Caption
- Italian Jewish children take part in a play to celebrate Shavuot.
Amont those pictured is Emma Di Capua (seated, third from the right). - Date
-
Circa 1926
- Locale
- Rome, [Latium; Roma] Italy
- Variant Locale
- Roma
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Yael BDoloh
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Yael BDoloh
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Emma Di Capua was born on November 11, 1922 in Rome to Jewish parents Atilio di Capua (b. 1898 or 1899 in Rome) and Yole (nee Ottolenghi) di Capua (b. 1900 in Rome). Atilio, his brother, and sister grew up in a Jewish orphanage in Rome. He later became a civil servant. Yole came from a prominent family with vineyards in Piemonti, who had lost their wealth and moved to Rome. After her parents died, she opened a bakery to help support the family, which was located across the street from the law office where Atilio worked. They met there and married in 1919. Atilio and Emma had three children in addition to Emma: Leo (1920-2012), Dario (b. 1924), and Roberto (b. 1926).
In 1938, the Italian Fascist regime under Benito Mussolini enacted a series of racial laws that placed multiple restrictions on the country’s Jewish population. Atilio was fired from his job, so he began a business importing sweets and candies from the Netherlands. At some point, the de Capua and Ottolenghi families realized that they would have to go into hiding and secured places through their maid, Asunta. Often, they could not go outside and relied on Emma to do the shopping, as she was thought to look less Jewish. They were able to stay in contact through the telephone, and used code words to warn each other when a hiding place became unsafe. They had to move frequently, but for the most part Emma, her parents, and her siblings managed to stay together. At some point Emma and her cousins were placed in a convent, where they spent nine months. After the end of the war, they were reunited and, after a short time were able to return to their apartment in Rome.
Emma’s brother Leo had been in the Italian underground, where he met Stefan Honig, a survivor from Bekescsaba, Hungary. They both belonged to a hachshara in Italy, and made Aliya to Israel together, settling in Kibbutz Degania. Emma went to Israel with the Zimriya choral group as student, where she met Stefan. They married on December 12, 1952, and their daughter Yael (later Bdolah) was born on September 30, 1954. Leo went back to Italy, but then returned to Israel in 1966.
- Record last modified:
- 2018-07-13 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1184915
