It is dedicated to Liliana Segre and is called 75190 Segreliliana. It is an asteroid, a minor body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Until now also known as 1999 VD169, it was discovered in the late nineties.
Now it bears the name and has the same number that the survivor of the Italian Shoah has been carrying on her arm since she was deported to Auschwitz at the age of thirteen.
The International Astronomical Union, on the proposal of INAF, has named the minor body of the solar system after her.
The appointment was announced at the opening of the conference Living with Auschwitz, organized by the University of Trieste in collaboration with the Wannsee Conference Memorial and the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin.
“The name and number to which each of us was reduced to Auschwitz, translated into a celestial body, can be valid from warning. “This has been” and it could happen again without information, knowledge, conscience and responsibility“. Segre commented in a letter sent to the organizers of the conference.
Technically 75190 Segreliliana is an asteroid 1498 meters in diameter and with an absolute magnitude of 15.8, has a period of revolution of 3.74 years.
The meaning of the title goes far beyond the name. Until my star shines is the title of the autobiography written by Segre. In the book he says that «at the end of the day, my fantasy world, which I clung to to” escape “from the field, had become a small star that I saw in the sky. Always the same. I had noticed it one evening of clear skies, when our torturers gave us a few minutes of respite. Since that evening, every day when it gets dark I looked for her, I talked to her. I was happy to find her again, it meant that another day had passed ».
Thirteen, seeing her every evening, he said to her: “As long as I am alive, you, little star, will continue to shine in the sky. Don’t worry, I won’t die. I will always be with you”. Starting from this memory Gianni Peteani, son of Ondina Peteani, first partisan relay and survivor of Auschwitz, decided to dedicate an asteroid to her. Ewine van Dishoeck, president of the International Astronomical Union, wrote to the senator: «An asteroid is a celestial body that reflects the light of our star, the Sun: and is therefore a very appropriate recognition of She who reflects the light of all innocents extinguished by human madness».
The motivation for the appointment, approved by Division F of the Iau, reports: «Asteroid No. 75190 honors Auschwitz survivor Liliana Segre (born September 10, 1930) with the same number assigned to her in the detention camp. On 19 January 2018 Liliana Segre was appointed Senator for life by the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella for the touching testimony of a child prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. He dedicated his life to witness and to the growth of awareness of the Holocaust so that it never happens again ”.
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