289:, one of her Atherton neighbors, in order to raise money for Greek political prisoners; the concert drew more than 10,000 people. In her memoirs, Baez described Sagan during the period as having "the gifts of an active mind, a love of life and beauty, an unquashable spirit, and a faith in people very much like that of Anne Frank." In the three years that followed, Sagan traveled throughout the American West, founding 75 more AI chapters. By 1978, AI USA's membership had increased to 70,000, more than 100 times that of a decade before. An AI spokesman later attributed Sagan with doing more than anyone to establish Amnesty International in the US, adding that "I think she has probably organized more people than anyone else in the human rights movement globally". She also founded the organization's first newsletter,
246:, Italy, when a pair of German officers forced her Italian captors to release her into their custody. She later recalled watching the stars from the window of their car and thinking, "I will never see another dawn." However, the Germans revealed themselves to be Nazi defectors collaborating with her resistance comrades, and they delivered Sagan safely to a Catholic hospital. Sagan annually celebrated the date of April 23 for the rest of her life.
266:. While there, she met Leonard Sagan, then a young medical student. The couple were married the following year, and would remain together until Leonard's death in 1997. Following their marriage, the pair moved to Washington, D.C. for Leonard's work. Sagan also worked part-time teaching cooking classes to the wives of US Congressmen.
237:
In late
February 1945, Sagan was betrayed by an informer in the movement and, like her parents, arrested by the Black Brigades. During her 45 days of imprisonment, she was beaten, raped, and tortured, leading up to a scheduled April 23 execution. At one point, a jailer tossed her a loaf of bread that
281:
Though
Amnesty International (AI) had a growing reputation in the UK, at this time, the organization was still in largely unknown in the US. Only eighteen chapters of AI USA had been formed by 1968, all of them in the eastern US, totaling less than a thousand members. Sagan had been involved in the
230:
antigovernment pamphlets. On one occasion, she dressed as a cleaning lady to steal letterhead from government offices so that it could be used to forge letters of safe passage to
Switzerland. Due to her energy and small size (she never grew to more than five feet tall), she received the nickname
229:
Ginetta, then seventeen years old, was already active in the resistance movement, delivering food coupons and clothing to Jews who were in hiding. Following her parents' disappearance, she became a courier for resistance forces in
Northern Italy, as well as helping to print and distribute
307:
following the war. A colleague remembers fellow anti-war activists being "furious" that Sagan would criticize the new
Vietnamese communist regime in the same terms she had criticized the US Armed Forces, and Sagan later recalled accusations that she was a fascist or undercover
349:
Amnesty
International created the Ginetta Sagan Fund in 1994 in Sagan's honor. The fund grants a $ 20,000 annual award to a woman or women "who are working to protect the liberty and lives of women and children in areas where human rights violations are widespread".
335:, the highest civilian honor of the US. In the citation, he stated that "Ginetta Sagan's name is synonymous with the fight for human rights around the world. She represents to all the triumph of the human spirit over tyranny." The same year, she was awarded the
312:
operative. Over the next decade, she also advocated on behalf of prisoners in Chile, the USSR, Poland, and Greece. She served on the AI USA National Board of
Directors from 1983 to 1987. In 1994, she was elected the organization's Honorary Chair of the Board.
174:, where Sagan founded the first chapter of Amnesty International in the western US. She later toured the region, helping to establish more than 75 chapters, and organized events to raise money for political prisoners.
282:
organization in
Washington, D.C., and when she arrived in Atherton, she founded the US's 19th chapter, holding its meetings in her living room. The chapter later grew into AI USA's first west coast regional office.
337:
191:
124:
242:("courage") written inside, a moment which would motivate much of her later work on behalf of prisoners. On the day of her scheduled execution, she was being beaten by guards in a villa in
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Sagan became a figure of controversy from the right and later from the left in the 1970s when she and Baez shifted their focus from protesting abuses by
American forces in the
983:
963:
855:
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163:, gathering intelligence and supplying Jews in hiding. She was captured and tortured in 1945, but escaped on the eve of her execution with the help of Nazi defectors.
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In addition to her work with
Amnesty International, Sagan founded the Aurora Foundation, which investigates and publicizes incidents of human rights abuses.
607:
988:
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943:
195:(Grand Official Order of Merit of the Italian Republic). Amnesty International founded an annual Ginetta Sagan Award for activists in her honor.
273:, in 1968. Sagan lived there until her death from cancer on August 25, 2000. Ginetta is survived by her three sons- Duncan, Loring, and Stuart.
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in Europe, her parents arranged false papers identifying her as Christian to hide her Jewish roots.
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After Sagan recuperated, she lived in Paris for a time with her godfather, attending the
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222:. Her father was later shot in a staged "attempted escape", and her mother sent to
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in the US and married Leonard Sagan, a physician. The couple then resettled in
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in the category of "Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged".
32:
779:
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Born in Milan, Italy, Sagan lost her parents in her teenage years to the
243:
556:"Ginetta Sagan Dies; Torture Victim Fought for Political Prisoners"
218:
opposing fascist rule, only to be arrested in 1943 by Mussolini's
214:
When World War II began, both of her parents became active in the
204:
57:
309:
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The couple later lived in Boston and Japan before settling in
136:(June 1, 1925 – August 25, 2000) was an Italian-born American
642:"Ginetta Sagan, 75, Who Spent Her Life Fighting Oppression"
338:
Grand Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana
192:
Grand Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana
125:
Grand Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana
166:
After studying in Paris, she attended graduate school in
353:
Previous winners of the award include the following:
331:
In 1996, US President Bill Clinton awarded Sagan the
258:. In 1951, she emigrated to the US to study at the
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107:
99:
84:
65:
39:
23:
675:"Ginetta Sagan -- Longtime Human Rights Activist"
189:in 1996, and Italy later awarded her the rank of
177:In 1984, Sagan was elected the honorary chair of
285:In 1971, Sagan organized a concert with singer
8:
825:. jeffersonawards.org. 2012. Archived from
598:"Amnesty International's 70-Year-Old Angel"
777:Sagan, Ginetta, "Vietnam’s Postwar Hell,"
159:. Like her parents, she was active in the
31:
20:
984:Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
964:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
791:
789:
527:
969:Italian emigrants to the United States
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277:Involvement with Amnesty International
140:activist best known for her work with
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858:from the original on 5 December 2012
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568:from the original on 30 October 2015
750:. Simon and Schuster. p. 179.
238:contained a matchbox with the word
891:, AmnestyUSA, REtrieved 9 May 2016
747:And A Voice to Sing With: A Memoir
326:Jefferson Award for Public Service
14:
687:from the original on 4 March 2016
640:Wolfgang Saxon (30 August 2000).
260:University of Illinois at Chicago
989:People from Atherton, California
673:David Perlman (29 August 2000).
934:American human rights activists
854:. Amnesty International. 2011.
713:Nat Hentoff (5 December 2000).
554:Myrna Oliver (30 August 2000).
944:Italian human rights activists
715:"The Passion of Ginetta Sagan"
596:Colman McCarthy (5 May 1996).
474:, Democratic Republic of Congo
418:, Democratic Republic of Congo
386:, Democratic Republic of Congo
1:
333:Presidential Medal of Freedom
187:Presidential Medal of Freedom
120:Presidential Medal of Freedom
16:Italian human rights activist
974:Amnesty International people
300:to protesting the abuses of
909:Hoover Institution Archives
877:Ginetta Sagan Award Winners
216:Italian resistance movement
161:Italian resistance movement
89:Italian resistance movement
79:, California, United States
1005:
889:Finetta Saga Award winners
226:, where she was murdered.
203:Ginetta Sagan was born in
199:Childhood and World War II
103:Leonard Sagan (m. 1951–97)
959:20th-century Italian Jews
341:, Italy's highest honor.
179:Amnesty International USA
30:
939:American women activists
852:"The Ginetta Sagan Fund"
949:Italian women activists
501:Adriana Portillo-Bartow
446:, Serbia and Montenegro
146:prisoners of conscience
954:Jewish women activists
416:Rebecca Masika Katsuva
879:Amnesty International
801:Amnesty International
797:"About Ginetta Sagan"
783:, May 3, 1982, p. 13.
324:In 1987, Sagan won a
142:Amnesty International
93:Amnesty International
905:Ginetta Sagan Papers
467:, Dominican Republic
423:Yolanda Becerra Vega
391:Amal Khalifa Habbani
271:Atherton, California
172:Atherton, California
508:Beatrice Mukansinga
437:Lydia Cacho Ribeiro
95:, Aurora Foundation
823:"National Winners"
680:San Francisco Gate
647:The New York Times
483:Giulia Tamayo Leon
472:Jeannine Mukanirwa
363:Malika Abubakarova
345:Ginetta Sagan Fund
234:("Little Mouse").
979:People from Milan
720:The Village Voice
603:Los Angeles Times
561:Los Angeles Times
451:Hawa Aden Mohamed
444:Ljiljana Raičević
379:, Comanche Nation
359:Victoria Nyanjura
305:reeducation camps
264:child development
168:child development
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302:North Vietnamese
185:awarded her the
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181:. US President
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899:External links
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829:on 18 May 2013
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409:Jenni Williams
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262:, majoring in
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220:Black Brigades
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153:Black Brigades
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73:(aged 75)
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44:Ginetta Moroni
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757:9781451688405
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503:, El Salvador
502:
498:
496:, Afghanistan
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469:
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458:Nebahat Akkoc
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144:on behalf of
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134:Ginetta Sagan
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85:Organizations
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64:
59:
54:June 25, 1925
42:
38:
34:
29:
25:Ginetta Sagan
22:
19:
884:
872:
860:. Retrieved
831:. Retrieved
827:the original
817:
805:. Retrieved
778:
773:
761:. Retrieved
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736:
724:. Retrieved
718:
689:. Retrieved
678:
651:. Retrieved
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612:. Retrieved
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570:. Retrieved
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479:Helen Akongo
465:Sonia Pierre
430:Betty Makoni
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209:antisemitism
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190:
183:Bill Clinton
176:
165:
150:
138:human rights
133:
132:
123:
71:(2000-08-25)
18:
929:2000 deaths
924:1925 births
487:Hina Jilani
402:Suzan Fayad
298:Vietnam War
293:, in 1973.
918:Categories
862:13 January
833:13 January
807:13 January
726:13 January
691:13 January
653:13 January
614:13 January
572:13 January
522:References
489:, Pakistan
481:, Uganda;
432:, Zimbabwe
425:, Colombia
411:, Zimbabwe
398:Magda Alli
361:, Uganda;
50:1925-06-25
742:Joan Baez
494:Sima Wali
453:, Somalia
372:, Nigeria
287:Joan Baez
224:Auschwitz
856:Archived
780:Newsweek
763:16 March
744:(2012).
685:Archived
608:Archived
566:Archived
517:, Bhutan
510:, Rwanda
485:, Peru;
460:, Turkey
439:, Mexico
365:, Russia
291:Matchbox
256:Sorbonne
240:coraggio
232:Topolino
108:Children
77:Atherton
907:at the
404:, Egypt
393:, Sudan
244:Sondrio
60:, Italy
803:. 2011
754:
513:1997:
506:1998:
499:1999:
492:1999:
477:2000:
470:2002:
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428:2008:
421:2009:
414:2010:
407:2012:
396:2014:
389:2015:
382:2016:
375:2017:
368:2018:
357:2019:
320:Awards
116:Awards
100:Spouse
205:Milan
58:Milan
864:2012
835:2012
809:2012
765:2013
752:ISBN
728:2012
693:2012
655:2012
616:2012
574:2012
400:and
66:Died
40:Born
310:CIA
155:of
920::
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48:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
