It took place this morning, at the Mediterranean Biodiversity Park in Catanzaroorganized by the State Police, and in the presence of Civil and Military authorities, trade union representatives and the National Association of State Police, the commemoration of the Commissioner of Public Safety Giovanni Palatucci, on the 79th anniversary of his death in the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau. A cushion of flowers was placed in the name of the Chief of Police at the base of the olive tree and the plaque in memory of the heroic policeman, placed in the Park in 2021.
After the blessing of the State Police Chaplain Don Alessandro Nicastro, the Catanzaro Police Commissioner recalled the figure of Giovanni Palatucci, his merits and his sacrifice, as a man and as an exemplary policeman to affirm a more just world. The value of the memory of Giovanni Palatucci’s sacrifice must be a strong warning so that the horrors caused by racism and wars are never repeated again.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the death of Giovanni Palatucci, former police commissioner of Fiume, which occurred in the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, in Germany, this morning a celebration was held Holy Mass, in the Church of the “Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii” in Crotone.
After the liturgical celebration, presided over by the Chaplain of the State Police, Monsignor Ezio Liminain Piazza Umberto I, near the monument to the fallen, the Prefect Francesca Ferraro and the Commissioner Marco Giambra they laid a laurel wreath in remembrance, during a ceremony attended by the local authorities, as well as a representation of the students and teachers of the “Almeone” Comprehensive Institute of Crotone.
The celebrations were organized in close collaboration with the local Section of the Giovanni Palatucci Association, represented by its president cav. Vincenzo Costa.
Who was Giovanni Palatucci
Giovanni Palatucci born in Montella (AV) on 31 May 1909, after graduating in Law in 1932 from the Royal University of Turin, in 1936 he won the competition and went to Rome to attend the 14th course for Public Security officials, at term of which he is assigned to the Genoa Police Headquarters.
In November 1937 he was transferred to the Fiume Police Headquarters, where he took on the role of head of the foreigners office and, subsequently, that of Regent Quaestor.
He worked to destroy registry files certifying his origins and produced false documents, to save many Jewish citizens from deportation to Nazi extermination camps.
Towards the end of 1944, when everyone was fleeing, he remained in Fiume to continue his work, despite the fact that the Swiss Consul of Trieste, his dear friend, offered him safe passage to Switzerland, an offer that Palatucci exploited, however, sending to his place, a young Jewish friend.
On 13 September 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the “Coroneo” prison in Trieste on formal charges of conspiracy and intelligence with the enemy; here he was sentenced to death by the German authorities also for his activity in favor of the thousands of Jewish refugees that he managed to save from Nazi persecution.
On 22 October 1944 he was deported to the Dachau extermination camp.
A few days before being deported to Dachau he told his collaborators “The Police means life, that life that helps others, poor people”.
On 10 February 1945, a few weeks after the Liberation, he died after suffering four months of hardship and torture.
In 1952 his uncle, bishop Giuseppe Maria Palatucci, said that his nephew had saved “numerous Israelites” during his stay in Fiume.
Giovanni Palatucci’s name appears on the Wall of Honor, in the Garden of the Righteous of the “Yad Vashem” foundation, in Jerusalem; the State of Israel also awarded him the title of “Righteous Among the Nations”, the highest recognition given to those who, risking their lives, saved the Jews from persecution.
Even in Italy, numerous parks, streets and squares have been dedicated to Palatucci’s memory.
In 1995 the Italian Republic awarded him the Gold Medal for Civil Merit.
In 2004, with the conclusion of the first phase of the beatification process, the Catholic Church consecrated him “Venerable Servant of God”.