Holocaust survivor and distinguished paediatrician Sultana Razon Veronesi has died at the age of 94 in Milan, the city where she was born in 1932.
Born to Sephardic Jewish parents of Turkish origin who had settled in Italy, Razon endured persecution under the Fascist racial laws before being deported during the Shoah. As a child, she was interned in several camps, including Ferramonti di Tarsia and Fossoli, before ultimately being deported to Bergen-Belsen, the Nazi concentration camp where Anne Frank died.
For many years, Razon remained largely silent about her experiences, later explaining that the horrors she had witnessed—particularly those involving children—were too painful to recount. In retirement, however, she chose to speak publicly in schools and educational settings, sharing her testimony to combat Holocaust denial and ensure that future generations remembered the atrocities she had survived.
Following the war, she returned to Italy determined to study medicine and devote her life to alleviating the suffering of children. Despite growing up in poverty and caring for her seriously ill mother while studying, she graduated with top honours in paediatrics and went on to practise for more than four decades in Milan’s hospitals.
Although widely respected for her medical career and research into childhood diseases, Razon’s legacy also rests on her resilience as a Holocaust survivor who transformed personal tragedy into a lifelong commitment to healing, remembrance and education.
She was predeceased by her husband, renowned oncologist and former Italian Health Minister Umberto Veronesi, with whom she shared 55 years of marriage and six children. In 2019, the City of Milan awarded her the Ambrogino d’Oro in recognition of her exceptional contribution to society and her enduring example of courage and generosity.
