• Villa Emma Foundation – Rescued Jewish Children
Between July 1942 and September 1943, there were about 70 Jewish children and youths at Villa Emma. When Italy was occupied by Germany, the children and youths were hidden by Italians up until their escape to Switzerland.
In 2004 the »Villa Emma Foundation« was established in memory of these events; it conducts educational work and research in direct vicinity of the villa.
Image: Nonantola, 1942/43, Villa Emma as a refuge for Jewish children, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
Nonantola, 1942/43, Villa Emma as a refuge for Jewish children, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola

Image: Nonantola, 1990s, Postcard of Villa Emma, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
Nonantola, 1990s, Postcard of Villa Emma, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
The »Youth Aliyah« organisation was founded by Recha Freier in 1933. It helped over 7,600 Jewish children and youths from Germany and Austria emigrate to Palestine. A group of young refugees was in Zagreb in April 1941 when the German Wehrmacht invaded Yugoslavia. Over 40 children could escape mortal danger by fleeing to the nearby Slovenian city of Ljubljana, which had been annexed by Italy. A year later, however, they came between the fronts of partisan warfare in Slovenia and had to flee to Nonantola in the north Italian province of Modena, where they arrived on July 17, 1942. Thanks to the help of the DELASEM aid organisation they found shelter at the abandoned Villa Emma; there, they received education in agriculture and made contact with the local population.
When Italy was occupied by German troops in the fall of 1943, the children – of whom there were now 73 – and 13 of their supervisors could be rescued with the support of the residents of Nonantola. In the following five weeks, they were accommodated at a seminary or at family homes. Supervisors Josef Indig and Goffredo Pacifici then smuggled the children in several steps past the German border guard into Switzerland. Except one boy, all of the children and youths of Villa Emma could be rescued. After the war, most of the children and supervisors emigrated to Palestine, others went to the US or returned to Yugoslavia. Only Goffredo Pacifici decided to remain in Italy after the children's successful escape in order to help others flee. He most probably perished in Auschwitz.
Image: Nonantola, 1942/43, Villa Emma as a refuge for Jewish children, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
Nonantola, 1942/43, Villa Emma as a refuge for Jewish children, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola

Image: Nonantola, 1990s, Postcard of Villa Emma, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
Nonantola, 1990s, Postcard of Villa Emma, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
The approximately 40 children and youths who came to Villa Emma in July 1942 were from Germany and Austria. Most of them came from Berlin, others came from Frankfurt, Leipzig, Hamburg, Vienna, and Graz. Almost all of them were orphans or their closest relatives had been arrested after the »Kristallnacht« in November 1938. Several of the children came from families who had immigrated from Poland and had thus been subjected to even harsher persecution beginning 1933.
On April 14, 1943, 33 more boys and girls from the Croatian city of Split arrived at Villa Emma. Most of their families were incarcerated or had been murdered at camps which had been set up by the National Socialist occupiers or the fascist Ustaša regime in Croatia.
The only one of the children not to survive was Salomon Papo, who was originally from Sarajevo and who had come to Nonantola via Split. He fell ill with tuberculosis and was brought to a sanatorium in the Apennines. Five months after his last letter his name appeared on a deportation list for a transport headed from the Fossoli transit camp to Auschwitz.
Image: Nonantola, winter of 1943, Children and their carers, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
Nonantola, winter of 1943, Children and their carers, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola

Villa Emma was built in 1898 by Vincenzo Maestri, a famous architect, as a summer residence for the Jewish landowner Carlo Sacerdoti from Modena. Sacerdoti had the house named after his wife, Emma. After the children had been rescued, the house continued to provide a safe haven for fugitives. After the war, the building was for a long time empty; today, it is used for wedding receptions, conferences and as a cultural venue.
In 1996, several adults who had as children been hidden in Nonantola visited the villa. In 2004, the »Villa Emma Foundation« began operating close to the original villa. The foundation is supported by various state and religious institutions. Its aim is to develop »new forms of cohabitation and confrontation« in order to combat racism and breaches of human dignity. Its work concentrates on children who suffered under war, persecution and flight. The foundation displays an exhibition on the »Children of Villa Emma« in its own exhibition rooms close to Villa Emma. Moreover, it offers guided tours through Nonantola, seminars for teachers and pupils as well as inter-cultural meetings and discussions with survivors.
Image: Nonantola, 2001, Former children of Villa Emma with the Mayor of Nonantola, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola
Nonantola, 2001, Former children of Villa Emma with the Mayor of Nonantola, Archivio Storico Comunale di Nonantola

Name
Fondazione Villa Emma – Ragazzi ebrei salvati
Address
via Mavora 39 (exhibition)
41015 Nonantola
Phone
+39 059 54 71 95
Fax
+39 059 89 65 57
Web
http://www.fondazionevillaemma.org/
E-Mail
segreteria@fondazionevillaemma.org
Open
Office: Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Exhibition: upon request
Possibilities
Exhibition (open to visitors upon request), historical educational trails for schools, guided tours through Nonantola by appointment, publications, library and historical archive of the commune