United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright Holder: Ms. Eva Deykin
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Two unpublished memoirs, related to the Holocaust experiences of the Yona and Foa families, of Turin Italy: “A Memoir of an Immigrant who Escaped the Holocaust in 1940,” by Eva Yona Deykin, 53 pages, typescript; and“Memoires of David Yona,” by David Yona, typescript, 223 pages. The memoir by Eva Yona Deykin relates the history of the families of both of her parents, David Yona and Anna Foa, their life in Turin after their marriage in 1932, the arrest of Anna Foa's brother, Vittorio Foa, for his anti-fascist activities in 1935, and his betrayal by the writer Pettigrilli (Dino Segre), who had befriended the family as a spy for Mussolini. Deykin also recounts her childhood in Turin and her meeting with her uncle Vittorio in his prison cell in Rome in 1940, shortly before the family's emigration, as well as the family's journey to the United States by ship, their arrival in New York and subsequent move to Boston, Anna Yona's work in producing Italian radio broadcasts, with anti-fascist commentary, for a station in Boston, their relationships with other refugees from Italy, the family's return visit to Italy in 1947, and their postwar lives, incluidng Eva's college years at Radcliffe, her marriage to Daniel Deykin. The memoir of Eva's father, Daniel Yona, was written shortly before his death in 1971, and although he intended to describe the experiences that led to his family's emigration from Italy, he was only able to complete the portion that extended to the time when he met and married Anna Foa in 1932. Prior to that he described his family's history, including his childhood in the Piedmontese town of Ivrea, his father's business partnership with Camillo Olivetti, and the founding of the latter's typewriter company, the effects of World War I on Italy, David Yona's university studies in Turin, his father's death, and the rise of fascism and Mussolini in the early 1920s.
Yona and Foa family memoirs