Giuseppina Sacerdote

Giuseppina Sacerdote was born in Milan on 31 August 1909. Giuseppina was Jewish and was a member of the Italian resistance movement. She served under the alias Pina.  

From 1944 Giuseppina Sacerdote was in charge of several members of the staff of the provincial commander and commissioner of the Garibaldi Brigades in Lombardy. Giuseppina Sacerdote handled all the reports from the provincial command, collected and sorted the news, and compiled the information into a single report that she copied in multiple copies and sent to other units. She also maintained a daily connection with the regional command at the head of which was Italo Busetto, her husband.  

Sacerdote was a mother of two small children. She took an enormous risk with her involvement in the resistance. She often carried a bag with a false bottom in which she hid information and material. If she was discovered this could have grave implications.  

After the Liberation on 25 April 1945, Giuseppina served as a liaison officer for the National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy.  

Giuseppina Sacerdote’s story serves as an important example of the contribution of Jews to the resistance. In Italy, Jews took part individually in the various partisan formations. There were about a thousand active Jewish resistance members, most of them were partisan fighters but they also engaged in clandestine journalism and publishing, or served as doctors putting their skills at the disposal of the resistance.