My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes

Would you risk your life to save a stranger? MY ITALIAN SECRET tells the story of sports idol Gino Bartali and other courageous Italians who carried out ingenious schemes to rescue Jews, partisans and refugees from Nazi-occupied Italy. Gino Bartali is a sports legend; but his most daring triumph came when he risked his life over and over to save Jews threatened by Nazi extermination. The story of Bartali and the secret network he worked with stands in for the stories of thousands of Italians who risked their lives to save others from capture and death. As an entire continent was engulfed in a genocide, which took the lives of most Jews in Nazi occupied Europe (nearly six million people), more than 80 percent of Italy's Jews survived. Bartali, like most of the rescuers, never sought recognition or reward. Few of those he helped knew his name or what role he played in their rescue.

Director’s statement:
I was a film student in Rome when I first heard about the Nazi roundup of Jews in 1943. Years later, I learned the little-known story of Italians risking their lives to save innocent strangers from the Germans. Gino Bartali smuggling papers in his bike, Dr. Giovanni Borromeo inventing a fictitious disease to scare away the SS, and other ingenious acts of courage were, to me, an irresistible story.

OREN JACOBY’s filmmaking has been recognized by the American Film Institute, the Sundance Institute, the Tribeca Institute, and the DuPont/Columbia Awards. His film, SISTER ROSE’S PASSION, was nominated for an Academy Award. Jacoby’s stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s INVISIBLE MAN premiered in 2012. He is now directing the documentary SHADOWMAN about New York’s most notorious street artist.