The 5th Partnership Meeting of the CLEO project was held in Milan, Italy, organized by Armes Progetti. Throughout the meeting, partners engaged in discussions regarding the forthcoming online course, meticulously reviewing and refining the syllabus and materials prepared for delivery in the upcoming academic year. Additionally, an ICT seminar, organized by the University of Akureyri, was attended by all partners. On the second day of the meeting, guided by Professor Emanuele Edallo of the University of Milan, the partners visited Binario 21, Casa delle Memoria.
Binario 21, is a significant site for Holocaust remembrance in Milan managed by the Fondazione Memoriale della Shoah. Situated behind Milan's Central Station, below the platform level, Binario 21 once served as a loading point for mail cars but tragically became a hub for the deportation of thousands of Jews and political opponents to concentration and death camps such as Auschwitz–Birkenau, Mauthausen, and others, including deportation camps in Italy like Fossoli and Bolzano.
Today, Binario 21 stands as a poignant memorial, inaugurated in 2013, and since 2022, it has housed the Centre for Contemporary Documentation. The memorial's interior comprises expansive rooms cloaked in the dark, providing visitors with a profound and emotive experience. It serves as a stark yet authentic portrayal of past events, offering invaluable insights and stirring emotions to the visitors.
Casa della Memoria is an institute that belongs to the Culture Directorate of the Municipality of Milan and its activities are planned by the municipal administration in agreement with the representatives of the hosted organization. The Casa della Memoria is dedicated to the enduring values of freedom and democracy that form the bedrock of our civil society. It stands as a monument paying homage to those who valiantly fought against Nazi-fascism, as well as to the victims of terrorism and the atrocities of the latter half of the 20th century.
Within its walls, the Institute hosts organizations such as ANED, AIVITER, ANPI, the Piazza Fontana 12 December 1969 Association, and the Istituto Nazionale Ferruccio Parri. These associations are dedicated to preserving, promoting, and disseminating the memory and study of the events pivotal to the establishment and defence of democracy, from its inception to the present day.
The Garden of Righteous (Il Giardino dei Giusti): managed by the Association for the Garden of the Righteous of Milan, which is composed of the Gariwo Foundation, the Municipality of Milan and the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities during the visit to the Garden the partners were guided by Benedetta Macripò and Sabrina Di Carlo of the Gariwo Foundation.
The mission of the Garden of Righteous is to promote the knowledge of the Righteous by educating individual responsibility which is useful for preventing genocides and crimes against Humanity.
The Righteous are neither saints nor heroes: they are ordinary people who, at some point in their lives, when faced with injustice and persecution, were able to come to the aid of those suffering courageously, cutting off a chain of evil through an unexpected action and an assumption of responsibility.
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