My Italian Secret - The Forgotten Heroes

Would you risk your life to save a stranger? And never talk about it? My Italian Secret tells the story of Italian sports idol Gino Bartali and other Italians who saved Jews and refugees fleeing the Nazis in WWII. Bartali, the Tour de France champion, risked his life hundreds of times, transporting documents for a secret underground organization. This is one of many 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 6 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. Gino Bartali was honored this year by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, seventy years after his courageous activities and thirteen years after his death.