Teachers Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust

Amato Billour was a high-school English teacher, who lived with his wife Letizia, a pianist, in Florence, Italy. In November 1943, when the Germans began the arrest and deportation of the Jews of Florence, they were in their 40s, and had no children of their own.

Following the deportation to Auschwitz of Rabbi Nathan Cassuto and his wife Anna Di Gioacchino, their four children were left with Cassuto’s sister Hulda   Campagnano, who was desperately looking for a hiding place for her brother’s children and her own. She was helped by Tullio Vinay, an evangelical pastor, who arranged shelter for her son, Reuven with the Billours. Reuven  Campagnano stayed with the teacher and his wife for almost a year, from December 1943 until August 1944. The Billours were very kind and sensitive to all his needs, and he soon began calling them “father” and “mother”. Contact was kept with his mother, and from time to time meetings were arranged in public places so that Hulda could meet her son, who was now called “Emilio”. When Florence was liberated in August 1944, Reuven was returned to his mother, but he never forgot the Billours and their love for him.

On February 24, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Amato and Letizia Billour and Pastor Tullio Vinay as Righteous Among the Nations.