Enzo Sereni

Enzo Haim Sereni ( Rome , 17 of April of 1905 - Dachau concentration camp , 18 of November of 1944 ) was a scholar, writer and partisan Italian Zionist , co - founder of Kibbutz Givat Brenner , and shot by the Nazis in Poland .

He was brother of Emilio Sereni (1907-1977), partisan, militant communist and senator of the Italian Republic.

Biography

Sereni was born in Rome. His father was a doctor of the king of Italy. He grew up in an “assimilated” family, but in his adolescence became a Zionist. He was one of the first Italian Zionists. After obtaining his doctorate at La Sapienza University in Rome, in 1927 he made aliyah (‘ promotion ‘ to Israel) to the then ‘ Mandate of Palestine ‘. ¹ He worked on orange groves in Rehovot , and helped found kibbutz Givat Brenner. As a socialist enthusiast, Sereni also actively participated in the Histadrut trade union organization . He was a pacifist who advocated coexistence between Jews and Arabs and the integration of both societies.

Between 1931 and 1934 Sereni lived in Europe to help many Jews travel to Palestine through the Juvenile Aliyah. He was briefly detained by the Gestapo. He helped organize the Hechalutz movement in Nazi Germany . He got involved in smuggling money and people out of Germany. Sereni was also sent to the United States to help organize the American Zionist movement. During World War II it was united to the British army , and was involved in the spread of antifascist propaganda in Egypt . The British also sent him to Iraq , and Sereni spent part of his time organizing a clandestine aliya (immigration). Sereni got into trouble with his British superiors for his Zionist views and was briefly imprisoned for falsifying passports.

Sereni then helped organize the Parachute Unit of the British Special Operations Executive ( SOE ), which dispatched agents to occupied Europe. Some 250 volunteer pupils selected about 110 for training, and 33 were parachuted into Europe, including Sereni, despite their relatively advanced age (39 years). Other famous martyrs who parachuted into Europe with this unit include Hannah Szenes and Reik Haviva , who were also executed and are considered martyrs. ² On 15 May 1944 he was parachuted into northern Italy, but was immediately captured. According to the records, it was shot in the Dachau concentration camp ( Poland ) on 18 of November of 1944 . ¹

Work

Enzo Sereni was translator, author of numerous articles, essays and volumes of history of religious thought and contemporary history. Before his aliyah (‘ascent’, migration) to Palestine he published many articles in the Italian weekly Israel .

• Bernfeld, S. Storia della letteratura ebraica antica , authorized translation of Enzo Sereni. Turin: Bocca, 1926.
• Sereni, Enzo. “Toward and new orientation of zionist policity”, in E. Ashery (compiler): Jews and arabs in Palestine. Studies in a national and colonial problem . New York: Hechalutz Press, 1936.
• Romano I., and Enzo Sereni. The questione ebraica . Tel Aviv (Israel): Cooperative Printing Hapoel-Hazair, 1939.
• Group Sionista Milanés. Enzo Sereni. Vita and brani scelti . Milan, Gruppo Sionistico Milanese: Hechaluz Keren Kajemeth le-Israel, 1947.
• Sereni, Enzo. It originated from fascism . Y. Viterbo (editor), introduction by M. G. Meriggi, postface by D. Bidussa. Scandicci (FI): La Nuova Italia, 1998.
• Sereni, Enzo. Politics and utopia. Lettere 1926-1943 , the cure of D. Bidussa and MG Meriggi. Milan, La Nuova italia, 2000.
• Sereni, Enzo. ‘A Roma dopo le leggi razziali’, in A. Cavaglion, and GP Romagnani: Le interdizioni del Duce. Le leggi razziali in Italy . Turin: Claudiana, 2002.

Honors

Eponymy

• Kibbutz Netzer Sereni bears his eponym, as are many streets throughout Israel.

Notes