During the Shoah -the Holocaust- I helped several Jews save their lives in Nazi-occupied Europe. I did it at my own personal risk and in violation of the prevailing laws that found Jews guilty of all that was evil, and promoted their persecution, harassment, detention, and murder. I acted knowingly that if discovered I would run the same fate as the persecuted, I reacted almost without thinking, and how could I have done otherwise when faced with suffering, humiliation, injustice, and murder? These weren't people accused of something they had done -- they were accused of the act of being born. They were persecuted for reasons they did not understand, without being able to defend themselves or protect their children. It was impossible for me to remain indifferent. Even though they were not my family or my friends, sometimes even complete strangers, I could not continue living my own life without doing something. Even though they might have thought differently, believed differently, spoken differently, looked differently, these differences did not hide the fact that they were human beings just like me. On the contrary, I recognized myself in those differences because I knew that from their point of view, I was the different one. All that is human is diverse, and differences among individuals and among groups are a part of our very humanity. So, when something is done to other people, it is as if it were done to me. Whatever happens around me is partially my own responsibility. I overcame the temptation to resign myself to the idea that nothing could be done. And I was not alone. Although there were not many, others like me proved it with their actions that there is always something that can be done.

Of course I was afraid. Of course things were not easy. Of course, in many moments, I found myself living in terror of what could happen to me and I longed for my lost comfort. But those were not times for laments, nostalgia or weakness. The surrounding horror urged for action. We needed to find possible hiding places, good false documents, enough money, food, medicine, to cope with illnesses and solve the problems coming up at every step, convince other people to help, hide our activities from neighbors, friends, acquaintances and relatives who could have reported us. I was forced to lie and to bribe, keeping up at the same time the appearance of a normal life without arousing suspicions. I knew they could find out what I was doing so I was extremely careful and I was lucky in ways that others were not: I was fortunate enough to be successful in saving some people without having been found out.

It was expressly forbidden to do what I did. I knew it. I committed the crime of disobeying the law with a conscious and firm conviction. Disregarding what was legal I chose what I considered to be legitimate, what I believed was Good. A law which fosters and commands Evil is unacceptable to me. Even though the propaganda insisted that we were not dealing with people, that they were sub-humans, enemies and they had to disappear for the good of society, I could not stop seeing in each one a person like me, with the same right to live as I had. There are moral precepts which are superior to any law; they guide us and I will try to transmit them to my children so that they, in turn, pass them on to their own children. The idea of Good is clear and simple to me, it can be summarized as "Thou shalt love Thy neighbour as Thyself." And I see every human being as my neighbor, however they might think, believe, speak, or look.This is my legacy. It is what I've been taught. It is also what I've learned. What I did does not have any special merit nor does it require a particular acknowledgment. It was what had to be done.