Brizi Luigi ; Son: Trento

Brizi, Luigi Brizi, Trento As an owner of a small souvenir shop situated near S. Chiara Square in Assisi, Luigi Brizi (b. 1876) owned a manual printing press, used for printing assignments. During the occupation, Luigi, and his son Trento (b. 1915) members of an Assisi rescue network risked their lives by printing false documents for Jews. These bore the names of various municipalities in the south of Italy, an area that was not occupied by the Germans. Presented as genuine identity cards, these papers enabled persecuted Jews to obtain food rations as well as avoid being arrested by the Germans. The most difficult problem in manufacturing these documents was to produce seals that would look authentic. Father Aldo Brunacci* recalled that Trento Brizi, borrowed his bicycle and some money in order to get to Foligno, a city situated 20 km from Assisi, where one of his friends, who was an expert in etching, could supply the suitable seals. The Brizis manifested moral courage during an immoral time. Among other Jews rescued by them were the Viterbis from Padua. The Viterbi family, who found refuge in Assisi in 1943-1944, consisted of Emilio, his wife, Margherita, and their daughters, Miriam (later Ben-Horin), and Grazia (later Carucci). All the members of the family received false identity cards bearing Christian names. Miriam, who was called Maria, was under-age, so she did not receive an identity card. She recalled that she had to memorize her “new” family name – Vitelli – and the map of the city of Lecce in the south, in the liberated zone, from which her family pretended to come. On July 16, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Luigi Brizi and his son, Trento, as Righteous Among the Nations.