Alfredo Chiotti receives the Medal of Honor

On Thursday February 3rd a recepion was held for a long time Santa Clara County resident, Alfredo Chiotti on behalf of the Government of Italy. The award, the Medal of Honor was bestowed by the President of the Republic of Italy Giorgio Napolitano and acknowledgement was presented to Mr. Chiotti by the Honorable Fabrizio Marcelli, Consul General of Italy and the Honorary Vice Consul General of Italy in San Jose, Silvia Raviola.

The recognition is part of an Italian nationwide initiative, "Giorno della Memoria" to remember and declare a day to acknowledge the many victims of intolerance during the World War II years. Mr. Chiotti, a US born citizen of Italian parents was residing in Italy during the war years. He was conscripted into a German labor troop, which was in effect a prison work brigade, and sent to Germany. Many of these people died in the process of working in a war zone, and the suffering endured was horrific.

As a way to acknowledge this tragic part of World War II history the Italian government is honoring Mr. Chiotti as well as calling attention to those whose lives were lost during this tragedy, and to reinforce a law passed in Italy in 2000 with the intent to "diffuse reciprocal respect for the diversities of cultures and religions, denying every type of racism and anti-Semitism”.

On January 27th teachers all over Italy at every grade level engaged students in special projects to commemorate this "Giorno della Memoria" and an awareness of racism and intolerance in general. The Consul General took part in these activities by this special recognition of Mr. Chiotti’s personal war time experiences.

"We were honored to host this event on behalf of the south bay Italian American community and perhaps we too, should borrow this current page of Italian History, and adopt our own "Day of Remembrance", to promote a national teach-in regarding healing some of our own issues regarding the dynamics of intolerance and racism", noted Ken Borelli, President Italian American Heritage Foundation.

Judy Verona Joseph
San Jose Correspondent