"All My Mothers" -The Story of Yehudith Kleinman

[Music] my story is a story of a little girl a little Jewish girl who had to make three faithful choices that in a normal world no child should never have had to make [Music] my name is yudith kimman and I was born in Venice Italy in 1938 and we moved to Milan 3 years later I lived in Milan with my mother Anna and my grandm Leah after my father disappeared my father Misha my mother worked during the day and when she came home in the afternoon she always ran to me and I ran to her

we clung to each other and I never left her side I was very attached to my mother and there was a strong special bond between us my mother used to play with me my mother used to read me stories and fairy tales and my mother always answered all my questions although there was a war going on my father was gone I was a Carefree little girl on October 30th 1922 with the fascist rise to power in Italy bito musolini was appointed prime minister and Italy became a totalitarian state after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in

October 1935 Italy grew closer to Nazi Germany these close ties gained momentum as Italy and Germany sided with the fascists in the Spanish Civil War on October 25th 1936 an agreement was signed between fascist Italy and Nazi Germany which became known as the Axis countries on September 27th 1940 Japan joined this Alliance the number of Italian Jews in the interwar period was approximately 40,000 and included immigrants and refugees in the early years the fascist totalitarian regime chose not to persecute the Jews in the summer of 1938 racist anti-semitic legislation was enacted under the direction and

will of lini from 1938 to 1943 a series of laws was enacted that stripped the Jews of many of their rights removed them from public life and created a barrier between them and the rest of Italian Society throughout this period these restrictions steadily increased and affected all areas of daily life in the summer of 1943 after the removal of musolini from power and the signing of the Armistice with the Allies Germany invaded Italy and occup Ed the North and center of the country Southern Italy was liberated by the Allies Germany released musolini who reinstated his

regime melini's solo Republic radicalized its anti-semitic policies and deepened cooperation with Nazi Germany during this period an extensive Manhunt for Jews was conducted throughout the country with both the Germans and Italians taking part Jews who were captured were transferred to concentration camps in Italy and from there deported mostly to [Music] aitz one day in h January 1944 my happy childhood came to an end it all began when my mother was called to the public phone which was at the entrance to our building she went downstairs and I as usual followed her I couldn't hear what

she said because she whispered into the phone but when she put down the phone I saw that she was pale I asked mama why are you pale what happened to you but my mother didn't answer me she went quickly upstairs and she and grandmother pecked in a hurry two suitcases I asked mama where are we going but again my mother didn't answer me and I felt I sensed that something terrible was going to happen my mama and my Nona took the two suitcases and I took my doll Angelica and I embraced her to to me

we went in silence after a long walk we reached a big building inside a room stood a Nazi by his desk he ordered my mother and grandmother to sit on the bench that was in that room to my surprise I saw there our Christian neighbor who also sat down on that bench next to my mother the Nazi told me to stand by his side then he asked me in a regular voice what is your name I said judita he asked with whom do you want to go judita I knew I had to answer right away

and I looked at my mother but I didn't recognize my mother for a minute she looked so different so strange she looked as if she had a white mask on her face and her eyes that always looked at me with love looked at me as if they said danger don't choose me I didn't understand why but I pointed at the Christian neighbor at that minute the Nazi shouted something and Two Soldiers came in they grabbed my grandmother by her shoulders and pushed her out of the room then they went towards my mother when I realized

that she too would soon disappear I ran to her but when I almost reached her the Nazi caught me and held me tight my mother stretched out out her arms to me but the Nazi drew me back [Music] my mother opened her mouth to say something to me but no word no sound came out I cried Mama Mama but they brutally pushed her out of the room I stood by the empty bench and I knew I was alone suddenly H the Christian neighbor came to me held my hand and took me out of to that

room she told me that she couldn't keep me because she was poor and had five girls of herself but she would bring me to a place where I will be taken care of and she brought me to a [Music] Convent Mother Superior waited for us at the gate she smiled at me and she asked me for my name and age I told her and uh I said my name is judita and I don't want to be here I want to go home Mother Superior said don't worry judita here you will be protected we will take

care of you the Nazis won't find you then she told me that I was the only Jewish girls in the convent and all the others were Christians and that I wasn't to tell any one that I was Jewish I kept it a secret for a long time as a months passed by I became friendly with three little girls who were also my age and uh I told myself because the the the secret was very heavy for me to carry I told myself that I could share my secret with my friends because because they would never

harm me so one day when we H were in the in the playground outside I told them that I was Jewish while I was telling them one of the girls passed by behind me she was one of the big girls and she must have overheard me because she came to me and said judita you are not a Jew and I can prove it to you I asked her how and she told me to show her my belly button I did and she said your belly button is pressed in like in all Christians in Jews the

belly button sticks out look for yourself yours doesn't stick out I looked and it didn't stick out but I wasn't quite sure and I told her that H I wanted to check all the girls belly buttons by myself she agreed that we would both check them so when the NS went to pray in the afternoon she gathered all the girls stood them in two long lines and we did the review of all the belly buttons I passed from one to the other with Marella behind me and uh I was very disappointed to find out that

they all head their belly buttons pressed in Marella said girls we always doubted we had doubts whether judita was a Jew or a Christian but now we have a proof the judita is a Christian she's not a Jew I was very confused because I knew I was a Jew and I couldn't find out how come I had a a Christian belly button instead of a Jewish one one day while we were uh studying in the in our room in the second floor we heard shouts from the yard we ran to the windows to look down

what happened and we saw h two mens in in in uniforms one was in black and one was in brown and they shouted at us do you have Jewish girls there so I moved away from the window because I was afraid and uh luckily uh the sister who stood behind me pushed me back to the window and shouted at them in our Convent we don't keep Jewish girls and then she told all the girls to sit in their places but I couldn't move only was difficult I I said one word gra and she said you

don't have to thank me you have to thank Jesus he is the one that saved you and Mother Superior said look judita from now on we will call you daa not judita and uh we will have to take much better care of you than uh we did that night in bed I told myself that um if they don't let me be a Jew or even one person then I will be two girls instead of one during the day they I will be the Christian girl and they will call me da and I will tell to

myself every night I am a Jew and my name is judita and in this uh in this way no one will be angry at me because Jesus will be happy and Mother Superior and all the the nuns that I a Christian and and God and my mother and my grandmother will be happy that I a Jew and because they will be happy they will bring me back my mama out of approximately 30,000 Jews from Italy who didn't manage to flee the country some 8,000 were sent to extermination camps only some 900 returned in April 1945

the final assault of the Allies on the German and Italian forces in Northern Italy began on May 2nd they formally surrendered musolini was captured by Italian partisans who executed him after the war Italy turned out to be an important stop for many survivors on their way to preate Israel with the arrival of the Jewish Brigade of the British Army in Italy they began searching for Jewish children in convents in order to bring them back into the fold of the Jewish Community about uh 1 month after the war in h 1945 in May I was sure

that now my mother will come back to me and my grandmother because the war ended and there's no reason that she won't come so every day I went to the gate and I looked out in the hope of seeing my mother coming for me and taking me home a few days after that h a girl came running to me and said you have guests go quickly to Mother Superior a man and a woman have come for you and I was sure that it was my mother and father so I ran quickly and I opened the

the door without waiting and I was very disappointed that I saw two Stranges the man and and the woman and the man came to me they shook my hand and said Shalom I Amika a soldier of the Jewish Brigade and this is Leah from ER Israel and he said we are Jewish do you know that you are a Jew too I said yes he said the because you are a Jew we want to take you out of here of the convent because it a Christian Convent and bring you to Earth Israel and I didn't know

anything about Israel then and I didn't want to be dragged out again and I said I won't go no one will take me and Mother Superior said I told you that she won't go with you and there said uh you did uh you're not a Christian so you have to be and uh live with the people that um that you belong to and and Mother Superior said da you are very dear to me I don't want you to go Jesus saved you under his protection you are safe and Leah said she doesn't belong to you

she was only put in your custody and Neah came to me and she kneel down and looked me straight in the eyes and said H you did you're 7 years old you are a big girl already so you have to understand here in the convent you found a temporary uh shelter now that the war is over we are going to all the convents and taking out all the Jewish children and bringing them to Earth Israel your place is is not here in Italy it's there in Earth Israel Mother Superior say to me daa you have

to make a very difficult decision go to the little room and think over where you want to be after half an hour we will call you and you will tell us what you have decided I went upstairs and I was very confused I didn't know what to do on the one hand I was used to being in a in the convent I stay I was there a year and a half already I had four girls that were good friends of mine I had two nuts that liked me and Mother Superior that loved me and then

I said to myself Leah said that all all the Jews are going now to to Earth Israel that means that my mother and grandmother are also there yes I will go with them so just then a girl came and told me to go to Mother Superior to the room and when I entered the room the three of them looked at me in expectation and when I said I will go with the Jews and Mother Superior became pale and she asked me dear child are you sure and they said yes M Anda and Le smiled a

big smile they were very happy then Mother Superior told the nun one of the nuns to bring the girls and to bring also my I had very little things stuff that belong to me and then when the girls arrived she told all the girls and nuns that uh I'm going to the land of the Jews to because I'm a Jew I'm not a Christian and we have to say goodbye and all the my friends cried and I also tried not to cry and I said Shalom to all and I gave my hands TOA and Lea

and we went toward the gate as I arrived in the gate I suddenly turned around ran to Mother Superior and embraced her she took off her her chain with a cross put it around my neck it was very heavy H kissed me on on my forehead and said judita Jesus will protect [Music] you yehudit was moved to a gathering area for Jewish children and then taken to the children's home at selvino under the direction of Moshe zi a soldier in the Jewish Brigade of the British army attached to the solel Bonet company in selvino children

were reconnected with their Jewish Heritage they celebrated the Sabbath and the Jewish festivals learned Hebrew and prepared for their new life in Israel at salino many of the children rediscovered a sense of Home youthful kinship intellectual interest and curiosity and hope for a new life a few months later in November 1945 yudit moved to pre-state Israel yudit was sent to the hatya institution of the Zionist religious youth Aliah movement in Pak tikva here there were children and young survivors we were there about 68 children from seven different European countries and I told myself as I

sat on my new bed that now the time in the land of the Jews I have to find out once and for all what kind of belly button Jewish girls have So I entered the bus room fully dressed and I leaned on the on the door and counted all the belly buttons and uh I was very happy to find out that they all had belly buttons that were pressed in a year later one of the boys uh suggested that we all tell the others what we did and how we felt on our first day in

the boarding home so we sat on the ground in a big circle 38 68 children and when my turn came I told them the story of my belly button they all laughed and one big girl Rose took a stick came to me petted me lightly on my shoulders three times and said by this I declare you a koser [Music] Jew one day when I was about 10 years old I received a a letter and a package from my aunt in England and um I asked her if she knows what happened to my mother to my

father and to my grandmother so uh she she ignored me she told me many other things she didn't want to tell me so when I became 12 years old I told she asked me what I want for bat mitzvah and they said I only want you to tell me the truth what happened to my mother and grandmother and father so she said about my father that uh my father disappeared and was never found again and my mother and my grandmother were deported to aitz and perished there and I was very angry and I said this

anunt doesn't know anything they are not dead and I couldn't accept it actually they were dead a week after they arrived and it was written the 30 of January 44 after this institution was closed the children were transferred to kval baa a youth Village established after World War II for child Holocaust Survivors at the age of 12 she went to live with her Aunt Margaret in hia yudit served in the Army studied teaching and was a teacher for many years she married and is a mother I'm missed my mother most first of all when I

gave H birth to my children with each child and I was very sorry for my mother that she didn't get to see her grandchildren actually I was one of those who didn't tell anything for years one day one morning when H the children had the breakfast and my daughter was still in her room she hung up to dresses that we bought for her the day before one was yellow one was blue and she had tears of frustration in her eyes because she couldn't decide which dress to wear for her kindergarten and uh I was amazed

seeing her you know so so touched by such a simple Choice and then all of a sudden I saw myself exactly at her age having to choose not between two dresses but between my mother and the Christian neighbor and I said to myself it was so horrible how because I repressed it I I so I didn't think about it h before the first thing I did I brought her to her kindergarten and when I came back I I went and bought many copy books children's copy books and started writing everything that happened to me it

all came up because of the such a tribal uh decision and that's how I wrote my book and that's how I started talking and coming to theem and on and on over the years yudit has told her story to young men and women Military Officers students and adults [Music] he [Music] a