On campaign, Holocaust survivors thank São Paulo for hosting

THE World Holocaust Remembrance Day , January 27, marks the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The date was set by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN). According to the UN, it is estimated that the genocide carried out by the Nazi regime resulted in the death of six million Jews during the holocaust, in addition to countless other victims.

On January 25th, the anniversary of the city of São Paulo is celebrated. With the proximity of the two dates and São Paulo’s reception for immigrants who fled the Nazi regime, the Holocaust Memorial ran a campaign telling the story of four survivors who found a new home in São Paulo.

With the name “Obrigado Paulistanos”, four immigrants – who are Brazilian and, above all, today consider themselves to be from São Paulo – tell their stories of leaving their country of origin and arriving in the city of São Paulo. The five films of 30 seconds each report the survivors’ experiences and tell a little about the reception in the capital of São Paulo.

The campaign was conceived by Marcio Pitliuk and Luiz Rampazzo, curators of the Holocaust Memorial in São Paulo. In an interview with CNN , Pitliuk said that the idea of ​​the project is to thank the population of the capital for having received the survivors with so much “love and care”. “Here they were able to rebuild their lives. It was a special place here, a wonderful place, so much so that they feel Brazilian”.

Marika Gidali was born in 1937 in Budapest, Hungary. She was just a child when she saw her town change with the horrors of World War II. “I remember that I went to the orphanage and that the bombing was very strong there”, she says. “I remember I had to run all the time, I had to go to the basement [o local mais seguro no caso de bombas] and then come back”.

In 1947, his family decided to move to Brazil. As the government of Getúlio Vargas did not allow the entry of Jews, the Gidalis had to obtain false documents in Italy to travel to Brazil and escape Nazi persecution. Arriving at the Port of Santos, she was unable to disembark as the police had informed her that there were problems with her documents; so they went to Uruguay and thus entered Brazil and arrived in São Paulo, where Marika’s aunt already lived.

“I was very well received”, says Marika, now over 80 years old. “I was wonderfully welcomed. São Paulo opened doors for me. São Paulo is a big hug, that’s what’s good for me. My life is totally connected to São Paulo”.

George Legmann was born in Germany, in a concentration camp. He has Romanian nationality and is a naturalized Brazilian. He arrived in Brazil on September 6, 1961. At the time, an agreement between the Brazilian and Romanian governments allowed the entry of fifty families into Brazil. The Legmann family managed to get in.

“I think that whoever arrives in Brazil in the conditions I arrived in has to arrive and kiss the earth in the morning, once at lunchtime and once at night”, he says. “You had the right to talk to whoever you wanted to, you didn’t have to think about who you were going to talk to and what you were going to say – it was a feeling of freedom”.

George considers himself Brazilian. And, above all, from São Paulo. “São Paulo offered me everything back then,” he says. “When I came here, they offered me a job and that’s where I met my wife, with whom I have two children.”

“São Paulo, for me, is everything”, says George. “São Paulo is the land of opportunity, of work, and I have nothing but gratitude”.

Service

The “Obrigado, Paulistanos” campaign will also be on display at Shopping Vila Olímpia, starting on the 23rd of January, and at Shopping Cidade de São Paulo, starting on the 25th.

The permanent exhibition at the Holocaust Memorial can be seen from Monday to Thursday, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and on Fridays, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Admission is free and the visit must be booked through the site.