My name is Sofia, I’m 26 years old, and I live in Italy. Like any young woman, I have many interests: I love traveling, reading, listening to music, eating, and living new experiences. I have been to the Unites States several times, and also to France and Spain, and I also lived in London for almost a year. I think getting to know new countries and cultures is very interesting. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy my hometown, on the contrary! I live in Tuscany, close to Livorno (if you don’t know where Livorno is, it’s quite close to Pisa – well known because of the Leaning Tower – and Florence). During the winter, days can be long and boring because of the bad weather, but during the summer the sun shines and I spend most of my time on the beach or swimming in the sea.
These are my interests, but my passions are two: writing and working to improve our world.
I started writing as a kid and I have almost never stopped.
I published my first book on January 27th, 2014. It’s in Italian and it talks about the Holocaust (it is set in 1943 in Rome and, later, Auschwitz). I’ve always been interested in the Holocaust and wanted to found out more about it. As a child, I read books and watched movies and documentaries on the subject. Growing up, this one question kept repeating itself in my mind: “Why? Why were all those innocent people, including so many Jews, killed?”
I was seven years old when I asked myself that question for the first time and I haven’t found an answer yet.
The first book I read about the Holocaust was The Diary of Anne Frank and it touched me very much. Maybe because it was the first written testimony of the Holocaust I read, or perhaps because I was always able to identify with Anne, I don’t know, but for some reason, it will always have a special place in my heart. I sometimes feel as if she was part of my family. I love her strength, her wonderful positivity and the fact that, at the age of thirteen, she already had opinions and desperately wanted to help others.
Unfortunately, in Italy too many people don’t know much about the Holocaust, don’t know how to spell “Auschwitz,” and don’t have a clue about what exactly happened there or in other concentration camps.
Once, I was at the beach and had the opportunity to talk with a man of around 50 years old about Anne Frank.
“Who?” he said. “Anne… who?”
Things don’t go better at schools. In my experience, I don’t remember one day in which teachers taught us something about the Holocaust (and when I got older and attended the Hospitality Training Institute High School things were no better there, either). On January 27th, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we stayed in silence for a minute, to “remember,” but with no explanation for why, everything lost its importance. Currently, students in Italy still don’t study a lot about the Holocaust and, if they do, they don’t understand the tragedy of it, how important is to learn from the errors of our past to live a better future, how important is to never give up hope and to understand that each of us has the power to choose good or bad.
Unfortunately, nowadays discrimination is still a reality, and too many people (especially young people) prefer to watch a movie, or two, or talk all day long on the phone rather than study our history or question themselves.
In my spare time, I wanted to do something to improve our world. This is why I started Bridge to Anne Frank, a website dedicated to the Holocaust and much more. Through the ideals of Anne Frank, it promotes peace and acceptance, fighting against all forms of discrimination, violence and racism. It is a website/project for everyone, all over the world, where we can all feel like a big, beautiful family. I want to combat against discrimination, injustices and intolerance and, of course, I want to keep talking about the Holocaust—because we are the last generation to be able to connect with Holocaust survivors, it’s up to us to continue telling their stories, to remember what happened, to prevent the tragedy of history from recurring, and to improve our world!
People in the little city where I live are closed-minded and jealous when someone tries to do something different, but I don’t care. I would prefer to be seen as “different” then to spend the rest of my life doing nothing. And I know I’m not alone, because thanks to my website, I also had the awesome opportunity to know other Italians like myself in other cities who also want to do something to help our world and to remember one of the darkest realities of our past.
There are also many people all over the world who support my website and ideals, and I know this is only the beginning of a new, wonderful adventure! I’m very honored to say that, just to name a few, Buddy Elias (Anne Frank’s cousin and closest living relative) supports my website; as does Ben Lesser, Holocaust Survivor and founder of the ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation; Cara Wilson-Granat, who for over two decades has corresponded with Otto Frank; along with many other associations, foundations, schools, magazines, projects and individuals from all over the world.
I’m a writer, but in my day job, I am an event organizer. I organize dance events in several Italian theaters. Even if I’m kind-of busy, every day I dedicate as much as I can to Bridge to Anne Frank.
I want it to be the voice of all Holocaust survivors who have been silenced and, by promoting the deep messages contained in The Diary of Anne Frank, I believe it can encourage people to embrace positive attitudes. It has several projects and initiatives (such as the “Ask a written question to a Holocaust Survivor” or the “I Shout Out Campaign”, in collaboration with The ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation).
If you also believe that we can do something to improve our world and that it’s important to not forget the Holocaust, I encourage you to visit my website (both in Italian and English), to participate in our initiatives and to visit our Facebook page!
