“The story of a house: the children of Selvino”, a video shot largely at the kibbutz Tel Yitzhak, on 24 March 1992, on the occasion of a meeting of former “children of Selvino”, mounted with images of a visit to the colony Sciesopoli of Selvino that, from September 1945 to November 1948, welcomed the Jewish orphans who survived the Shoah.
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September 4 to 6, 1983
To all my dear (daughters) Shalom and blessings
… On Sunday morning , in addition to journalists who represent important papers in Italy, few TV reporters and film makers arrived. They filmed and interviewed. We brought with us from Israel a copper plaque on it was inscribed what and who was in this house in Selvino. A day prior to the unveiling of the plaque it was covered with the Israeli flag.
It was very exciting to see all the distinguished guests who came for the ceremony- the mayor, the city administrators, military and police personal, Selvino citizen and people from Milano who heard about it over the radio.
The flag was removed off the plaque, very emotional speeches were given in Italian, and translated to English. The translation was given by the daughter of Dr. Baldi , the director of the house who is living in Milano.
Dr. Baldi stayed with us in Selvino from the very first moment we stepped into the house’s entrance. He brought his entire family with him, and stayed with us all the time, taken over by excitement and smiles.
Moshe Ze’iri also gave a speech , as well as Olek from our group ( the one I always call on the phone)…
We received a medal for the entire group, very nicely designed, and also small flags. Shmuelik (you know him) brought with him greetings from Ze’elim + gifts. A flag of the Be’ssor regional municipality, and a picture of Ze’elim. A decision was made in Selvino to form an alliance between the city and the Kibbutz.
Among us was Annamaria Gorini, who arrived specially from Boston, in order to join us. She is the wife of Luigi Gorini, one of the “Righteous Gentiles” who received in Israel, in Jerusalem the honorary award for his work with children survivors of the Shoah.
She was very moved by us and excited to be with us. I took many pictures of her, we had several conversations and she gave me her address. A wonderful charming woman, smily and her goodness was dripping off her face and her entire persona.
Following the ceremony we had dinner with all the guest, and then we sat down and broke into singing. We were joined by the staff, the cooks and the waiters, pretty and playful girls. They were complimenting us, how nice we are and how much they enjoy our presence. The singing spilled over to the Italian songs and it was very happy.
And if this was not enough, at the afternoon a delegation of young children came to us, sweet little ones of all ages. Among them there were even three years old, gorgeous, dressed in folkloristic dresses, pompons, baskets of flowers on their backs and two baskets in their arms. This was a beautiful parade , colorful and cheerful.
They carried a banner ” the Selvino Family”. They were escorted by an orchestra and two “Mazoretti ” dancing groups who danced to the music of the orchestra. Everything was so colorful and the costumes were outstanding in their beauty. Everyone was dancing to the music of the orchestra. Hundreds of local people arrived. We sat on the porch of the house and sang Hava Nagila, Hevenu Shalom Aleichem and more and more. They were clapping hands as the locals were ecstatic with the former “Bambini di Selvino”, that were grown now and became grandparents…
Meanwhile it started to rain and this big crowed came into the house, got situated in one of the big halls which served us in the past as our cinema. We continued to have fun and broke into a stormy “Horah” accompanied by laud singing until our voices became hoarse.
In the evening, again the entire group sat with family Baldi, his wife was Jewish and converted for her husband. Because she wasn’t with us on Friday night, Mr. Baldi asked Moshe Ze’iri to reconstruct Kabalat Shabbat. However, because on Motzaey Shabbat we can not repeat Kabalat Shabbat, we sang and brought happiness to everyone.
That same evening we departed from the team that by then became attached to us. We tipped them and received from them the emblem of Selvino of the past, which they have reproduced for us and wrote on it a special greetings. At the end of the evening there was a pantomime performance by a friend of ours who lives in NY and performs there.
The program was consisted of : The man and the monkey, strip-tis, a Henchmen’s dream, an old woman’s dream, walking in the rain and more. We went to bed very late.
Next morning following breakfast, we had a moving departure from the staff, the house director Dr. Baldi, his wife and daughter who was our translator from Italian to English. In the morning they brought us the local papers which already had articles about us.
We took off to Bergamo. We visited ancient Bergamo , it’s churches and antiquities. Later we sailed on beautiful large Magiore lake , to an island by the name of “Isola Bella” there was an ancient fort, which was reconstructed by Napoleon . Among others we saw his bed where he made love to Josephin and perhaps few other beauties and lovers. The fort belonged to the navy which kept the passages of ships. The rooms inside were built and decorated with local stones and materials.
The fort is surrounded by a beautiful garden, and two white peacocks were roaming around in it. Of course there was also a souvenir market….everyone was buying, taking pictures and being photographed. We continued along lake Magiore and arrived to Bellinzona. We stayed in a three star hotel. Everything was immaculate clean. From the porch a wonderful mountain view was reflecting, as well as three forts that were lit at night.
In the evening I missed home and called. I was very moved by Yaeli’s voice. I hope that you enjoyed the wedding- Michali and Tammy .
On Tuesday the 6th of September 1983 we crossed the border to Switzerland without any events and even without passport checking….”
Leah Ben-Dov Spivak
Selvino, 1983
Translated from Hebrew to English by Miriam Bisk
