Gabriella Elisa Ezra OSI (née Schittar; 16 January 1928 – 27 July 2019) was an Italian language coach for Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
Gabriella, who had studied in Innsbruck, Austria and spoke German, managed to convince the soldiers that the men and boys were innocent, and in doing so she saved them from certain death.
[2] In 1946, while working as a translator in the British Town Major's office in Mestre, Gabriella fell in love with Captain Peter Ezra, of the British Army Middlesex Regiment, who took part in the Sicily Campaign and the Battle of Anzio during World War II.
After their wedding in Venice in 1949, they moved to Hove, from where she worked as a language coach at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and had two children: Mark Ezra and Diana.
[4] On 20 November 2017 the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, awarded Gabriella Elisa Schittar with the honour Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy for her courage and altruism.