Rome, 6 December 2023 - Testimony, memory, care. These words summarize the figure of Sami Modiano, 93 years old, who today received from the Rector prof. Eugenio Guglielmelli la Honorary degree in Medicine and Surgery for humanitarian and social merits during the ceremony inauguration of the 31st academic year ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma.

The ceremony took place in the presence of the Ministers of Health Horace Schillaci and the head of cabinet of the Ministry of University and Research Marcella Panucci, of the president of the Jewish Community of Rome Victor Fadlun and the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome Richard DiSegni.

A life dedicated to civil commitment, to telling young people about the dramatic events in which he was the protagonist when he was just fourteen, deported and then survived the tragedy of the Holocaust: Sami Modiano in almost twenty years of testimony he became the bearer of those virtues of civil life that combat divisions and affirmed the values ​​of freedom, respect, acceptance and sharing that are the basis of every human community.

For this reason today theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, which this year celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with the slogan "Deep roots and a look to the future", wanted to reiterate its educational project based on a solid scientific education and a strong value base.

Sami Modiano during the Lectio magistralis in the main hall in via Álvaro del Portillo he sent his strong message in front of the many young university students present and the students of the comprehensive institute Marta Russo of Trigoria: “I'm still there, in Birkenau. There I lost my sister Lucia and my father Giacobbe. I can not forget. I came out of that hell and after many years I understood that I had a mission: to tell everyone what happened, especially young people - he recalled Sami Modiano - For a long time I asked myself “why me? Why did I survive?”. That wound will never heal, but I understand why it's worth living. For you, to tell you what happened." 

"I weighed just 25 kilos I was a skeleton – he continued in his memory Modiano - Before arriving in Auschwitz I was tired, my body gave out and I fell. I put my hands on my head, waiting for the final blow. I knew I was going to die, but an incredible thing happened. Two Jewish prisoners older than me bowed, took me by the arm and placed me on other corpses, there was plenty of them there. When I woke up the Russians had already arrived and a doctor was trying to warm me up".

“I thank theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma for giving me once again the opportunity to speak in front of so many young people, your university students but also the very young middle schoolers present today - he concluded Modiano - so that what I experienced remains long in the memory and is never repeated again. I hope that this hymn to life can be an inspiration for doctors of today and tomorrow." 

Sami Modiano's words resonated in the room like a great lesson, as the president of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Carlo Tosti: "Today is a special day for all of us who, together with Sami Modiano, can remember what happened in the past and learn from him to take care of our neighbors. We are convinced that the university path must offer young people a comprehensive education that serves to structure them as valid professionals but even before that as people of value. In recognizing Sami Modiano's great commitment against hatred and divisions between men and his effort to affirm the values ​​of respect and acceptance, we are certain that we have offered the entire academic community another opportunity for discussion and growth. We thank Sami Modiano for having given us his presence and his friendship." 

Also attending the ceremony Andrea Rossi, CEO and General Manager UCBM, Professor Vincenzo Di Lazzaro dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and the student representative Chiara Surace. The day, which began with the holy mass celebrated in the chapel of the University Hospital by the cardinal Matteo Zuppi president of the CEI, saw the participation of the regional councilor for University and School Giuseppe Schiboni, Walter Veltroni and rectors and their delegates from a large number of Italian universities.

In recent months the bodies ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma thus motivated the proposal to the Ministry of the University to award Modiano the prestigious recognition: "Samuel Modiano - we read - dedicated his existence to keeping alive the memory of the horrors committed in the concentration camps by making known the atrocities that characterized the 'Holocaust. His dedication to this mission has promoted in the young generations full awareness of the value of human life and the culture of respect for life. The promotion of life and the fight against everything that can threaten it and cause suffering have a close correspondence with the training path for the medical profession. Only by developing a profound knowledge of what can cause suffering or threaten the life of a human being can we develop the skills that allow us to identify the causes of suffering and alleviate them, promoting health as the ability to adapt and thrive according to the conditions of our life. The awarding of an honorary degree for humanitarian and social merit therefore represents a fitting tribute to the extraordinary life and testimony of Sami Modiano, who taught us so much about compassion, but also about the extraordinary strength and determination that a human being can have. Values ​​that must inspire the commitment and work of all doctors. It is also a reminder of the founding values ​​of the social community such as freedom, respect, inclusion, acceptance and sharing".

Dimensions that theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma promotes training, research and third mission in its daily activities. The proposal for an Honorary Degree in Medicine and Surgery, approved by the university bodies last July and subsequently approved at the beginning of September by the Ministry of University and Research, was supported by the qualified opinions of internal and external professors from other Italian institutions and universities and international ones who have given their authoritative feedback, fully favorable to the awarding of this title.

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Samuel Modiano, witness to the Holocaust 

Samuel Modiano was born in 1930 in Rhodes. Together with his sister Lucia, he spent a peaceful childhood, which was however shaken in 1938 by the Racial Laws with the expulsion of Jewish children from primary schools. After 8 September 1943 the island was occupied by the Nazis, in July 1944 the deportation of the Jewish community took place: the Nazis packed the Jews inside livestock transport boats, disembarking after a week's journey in Piraeus. Locked up in Haïdari prison, they are then deported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, after being selected for work, Sami, his father and sister are registered in the Birkenau camp. His father Giacobbe and sister Lucia died in the first months of captivity. Sami, left alone, finds comfort in the friendship of another young prisoner, a Jew from Rome, Pietro Terracina. On January 18, 1945, he was included in the 'death march' which was to take prisoners from Auschwitz to the Reich camps. During the journey, he collapses exhausted and is left by two prisoners next to a pile of corpses in the concentration camp. On January 27 he was liberated by Soviet troops and treated in a field hospital. With another Roman Jew, Settimio Limentani, he decides to go to Rome. He returned to Rhodes only in 1954 where he met Selma, who he married in 1958. In 2005 he returned to Auschwitz for the first time and began his work as a tireless witness in favor, above all, of the younger ones.