Zenari Eugenio & Teresa

Giuseppe & Genoveffa Lonardoni Eugenio & Teresa Zenari The Finzi family – Silvio and Adriana (née Rimini), and their son Renato (b. 1938) – lived in Verona. Silvio, a teacher in the local high school, lost his job after the racist laws were enacted. When the Allies landed in Sicily, Silvio worried that Verona would fall into German hands, because of its central location and important railroad junction. He searched for a safe refuge for his family in the nearby village of Moruri, at the home of Genoveffa Lonardoni. Lonardoni was a farmer who came every week to sell her wares to the Finzis on the black market. Silvio agreed to rent a room in the Lonardonis' home, in which Genoveffa lived with her husband Guiseppe and three children. After the German invasion of Verona, the Finzis fled to the Lonardonis. The following month, the two grandfathers – Giorgio Finzi and Ebe Rimini – also arrived in Moruri, together with Adriana's sisters Jolanda and Irma. The four refugees rented two rooms from local farmers Eugenio and Teresa Zenari. They were joined a while later by Ebe's wife, Elisa. Eugenio and Teresa' son Angelo Zenari was 14 years old at the time. He later recalled that his family was very worried that the Germans would find their Jewish charges, and burn down their home. They told everybody that their tenants were in fact non-Jewish refugees; a claim, he asserted, that was backed up by the village priest, Father Albrigi. Delia Lonardoni, who was 17 at the time, remembered her family doing the same. Yet, she believed, everybody in the village really knew who the refugees were. Altogether, eight members of the Finzi/Rimini families were now hiding in Moruri. Their presence in the German-occupied region was particularly dangerous to the local residents, some of whom expressed reservations in continuing to hide them after hearing of the cruelty with which the Germans dealt with anyone suspected of cooperation with the underground. A village meeting wascalled, run by Father Albrigi, who persuaded the villagers nevertheless that the family should stay. They provided the Jewish fugitives with food for eighteen months, and not one villager ever denounced them to the authorities. The Germans never came to the village, because it was completely cut off from any access road. Only on one occasion did German soldiers approach, and the family spent the whole day hiding in the adjacent woods. On 25 April 1945, Moruri was liberated by the Allies. During the final days of the war, a retreating German convoy raided the village and took over some of the houses, stealing their food. After liberation, the Finzi family returned to Verona, returning to Moruri only to collect their furniture that they had brought with them into hiding. Delia Lonardoni recalls the Jewish family presenting her mother with earrings and a ring, to thank her for all she had done for them during the war. In his testimony to Yad Vashem, Renato Finzi stated that Guiseppe Lonardoni was a former fascist, who had fought in a number of wars. Nevertheless, his humanitarian actions during the war saved the entire Jewish family. On 10 July 2006 Yad Vashem recognized Guiseppe and Genoveffa Lonardoni, and Eugenio and Teresa Zenari as Righteous Among the Nations.