ታሪኽ ዘርኣይ ደረስ

እስጢፋኖስ ገብረሚካኤል ተሞልሶ ኖርወይ

11.11.2014

Revised version

I have been to Italy (Rome and Milan) recently and the three different versions about the story of Zerai Deres are as follows:

Zerai Deres used to be a student in the seminary of Segheneiti with notable persons like Degiat Solomon, Memhr Abraham Hagos who used to be a teacher at Scuola Vittorio (later named Hibret), Ghebrihiwet Nebarai head of Eritrean education department etc. He later abandoned the seminary and worked as an interpreter in Rama. He married to a lady named Alemash from Segheneiti. She is the cousin of Girmai Kidane (Wedi Filipo) who is a notable person in the Eritrean armed struggle. According to Wedi Filipo’s research Zerai was at the square when someone at the podium was uttering racist words that degraded Africans.

ኣብዚ እዋን`ዚ ዘርኣይ ደሙ ፈሊሑ በታ ናብ ሓደ ኢጣልያዊ ሓላፊ ከብጽሓ ዝተዋህበቶ ጉራዴ ክድብል ጀሚሩ። ኣብ ከባቢኡ ዝነበሩ ኢጣልያውያን ፈሪሖም ካብኡ ክርሕቁ ከለዉ፡ ገለ ድማ ጽሉል መሲሉዎም። ኣብ መወዳእታ ድማ ተታሒዙ ኣብ ቀይዲ ኣትዩ።

Interestingly enough there has been so much talk about Zeray Deres, and yet, so far, no archival documents or serious scholarly studies have appeared. As we have certainly realized what we know about him has come down to us through oral tradition. And that, as usual, is filled with a lot of pitfalls! Everybody recounts it with different and even contrasting details. I myself have given a greater credit to what I have heard from Abba Tekestebrahan Ghebremedihin, alias Abba Domenico, who had been his classmate in the first seminary opened by the Capuchin fathers in Segheneiti in 1934. He told me that they remained in touch even after Zeray left the Capuchin order and went to Italy. Many times one hears speak about Zeray as an Askari. According to Abba Domenico, he went to Italy rather as an interpreter (tourjuman) for the Tgrigna language, thanks to the fact that he had learned Italian as a seminarian in Segheneiti.

The third version which is by Aba Tewlde former History lecturer at the University of Asmara runs as follows:

The accident took place on May 21, 1937, at the Piazza dei Cinquecento near Stazione Termini in Rome, where the fourth anniversary of the proclamation of the Italian Empire in Ethiopia was being celebrated. The parade was attended by Mussolini (and, I am not sure, by Hitler). Zeray had arrived a few hours earlier from Napoli, carrying, inside the coat, a sword that he intended to send to a friend in Addis Abeba. He joined the crowed in the Piazza while one of the authorities was giving a speech filled with racial hatred. At some point Zeray exploded with indignation, pulled out the sward, and branded it in the air threateningly. In the confusion that ensued someone was slightly wounded, and Zeray was arrested. The newspapers of that afternoon and of the day after published articles in which the minor incident was transformed into a “bloody slaughter” of people… Thus the legend of hero Zeray, vindicating the humiliations of Ethiopia, came to be. This is briefly what I have collected from Abba Domenico, who assured me that the incident in itself was absolutely minor, but was amplified by the Italian newspapers immediately and by Ethiopian/Eritrean oral tradition later. Another version by an old man who knows much about oral history says the following. Zerai was in Rome when Mussolini was making a speech on the commemoration of the establishment of fascism. When he saw the statue of the Ethiopian lion in the square he became emotional and mounted on the lion while beating it with a stick and saying, “SU! KID NAB ADKA, ENTAY TGEBR ABZI” and so on. All the people in the square looked at him amazingly and he was finally overpowered by the carabineri as a lunatic and imprisoned. But just before he was to be repatriated to Eritrea in a ship he was given an injection that would kill him and he died before he arrived.

Conclusion: Zerai was in Italy not as an ascari but as an interpreter. As a result of his hot temper he became emotional when he heard racist words that degraded Africans. As an African, his feelings became wounded and he acted violently. The issue became explosive and the newspapers created such unfounded news by claiming the Zerai killed many people and this became the source of Ethiopians making a hero of Zerai. In a place where there were a lot of carabineri and security personnel, it would never be possible for a black man to kill as many as half a dozen and would much more. The issue is not whether Zerai was a hero or not but whether he actually committed the deed or not. No written archive exists so far that Zerai killed many people.

ዘርኣይ ደረስ ምስ መማህርቱ ብዕለት 06.11.1934 ኣብ ሰገነይቲ ዝተሳእሎ። ገለ ካብ መማህርቱ ኣቶ ገብረሂወት ነባራይ ሓላፊ ክፍሊ ትምህርቲ ነበር፡ ኣቶ ሰለሙን ተኽለ (ኣቦኡ ንጴጥሮስ ሰለሙን፡ መምህር ኣብርሃም ሓጐስ ኣብ ስኮላ ቪቶርዮ መምህር ዝነበሩ ወዘተ ይርከቡዎም። ኩላቶም ካህናት ንክኾኑ ዝመሃሩ ዝነበሩ እዮም። ናይቶም ካልኦት መንነት ዝፈልጡ ሰባት ክገልጹ ይዕደሙ።