Italian cardinal posthumously honored as Righteous Among the Nations for helping to save Jews

Israel’s Holocaust memorial institution Yad Vashem has named the World War II-era Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa, as 'Righteous Among the Nations' for his help in rescuing hundreds of Jews from Nazi persecution, the 'Catholic News Agency' reports. Yad Vashem said the cardinal had “played a central role in the organization and operation of a widespread rescue network.”

The Nazis began to deport Jews after the German occupation of Italy in September 1943. A major rescue effort in Florence was begun by the city’s Jewish leader Rabbi Nathan Cassuto and Jewish resistance fighter Raffaele Cantoni. The operation soon became a joint Jewish-Christian effort, with the cardinal offering guidance. Dalla Costa recruited rescuers among the clergy and supplied letters asking monasteries and convents to shelter Jews. He sheltered Jewish refugees in his own palace for short periods before they could be taken to safety.

Yad Vashem said the cardinal was part of a network that helped save hundreds of local Jews and Jewish refugees from areas previously under Italian control. Survivor Lya Quitt testified that she received help from the cardinal after she fled to Florence from France in September 1943. She was brought to the cardinal’s palace and spent the night with other Jews sheltered there before rescuers took them to different convents in the city.

Elia Dalla Costa died in 1961 at the age of 89.