Silvio Magrini

Silvio Magrini was born in Ferrara on January 8, 1881, the son of Moses and Fausta Artom. He received a degree in Physics from the University of Bologna in 1905 and was a lecturer at that university from 1913. He married Albertina Bassani and together they lived in the house on via Borgo dei Leoni. When Italy entered the First World War, Magrini enlisted as a volunteer intent on fighting for those ideals that had given freedom to Italian Jews.

Silvio Magrini was president of the Jewish community of Ferrara and has left us a written history of this community and its Jews from its origins until August 1943 when General Badoglio seized power. In 1943, Magrini was captured by the fascists and handed over to the German SS. After having passed through the camp of Fossoli, he was deported to Auschwitz where he died, presumably on February 26, 1944.

We know of his history of the Jews thanks to his family. It was during a renovation of the Magrini family home that they found three cardboard folders containing the typewritten sheets and many handwritten notes.

Thanks to the work of his grandson, engineer Andrea Pesaro, the text was sent for publication and the history of the Jews of Ferrara by Silvio Magrini was brought back to life.