Giovanni Palatucci died at Dachau in 1945, at age 36. As chief of police of Fiume, he forged documents and visas for thousands of Jews, helping them escape the end he himself met once his actions were discovered.

More than 60 years after his death, the Anti-Defamation League is taking steps to ensure that Palatucci’s courageous actions are remembered. At a dinner last week, the league’s national director, Abraham Foxman, posthumously honored Palatucci with its Courage to Care Award.

“He acted as a guardian of the true elements of justice in an environment where justice had been eroded, distorted, and polluted by political hatred,” Mr. Foxman said.

Speaking before the police commissioner of New York City, Raymond Kelly and the national police chief of Italy, Giovanni DeGennaro, Mr. Foxman praised the law enforcement profession.

Mr. Foxman called Palatucci’s life “a shining example of what being a police officer means.”

“Police officers choose a calling involving tremendous sacrifice and danger … motivated by the need to help and protect others and not be bystanders,” he said. “Few people in our society are invested with as much trust as the law enforcement professional.”

To preserve Palatucci’s legacy, the league is creating a law enforcement award to recognize Italian and American officers who have gone beyond the call of duty, with particular emphasis on fighting hate crime. The league is also including Palatucci’s story in its training program for law enforcement officers and in its school lesson plans.

Palatucci was born May 31, 1909, at Montella, near Naples. He graduated from the University of Turin and practiced law for four years before becoming an inspector for the Italian Ministry of Public Administration in 1936. By 1938, he was chief of police of Fiume, a port city on the northern Adriatic Sea that today is part of Croatia and known as Rijeka. The same year, Italy passed laws to detain Jews in internment camps.

Palatucci deported Jews to internment camps near Rome and called on prominent family members to assist them – one uncle was bishop of Campagna, another the provincial of the Franciscan Order in Puglia. Between 1940 and 1944, he also delivered food and money to Jews in hiding, as well as issuing false identity papers and visas. Sensing Palatucci was in danger, a Swiss ambassador arranged for an exit visa to Switzerland. Palatucci gave it to his Jewish fiancee, who survived the war and lived in Israel until her death. The Gestapo arrested him shortly afterward, in September 1944. He died in Dachau 10 days before the camp was liberated.

“Giovanni Palatucci’s story has become another simple but powerful story of a redemptive heart, willing to sacrifice his life to save others,” Governor Cuomo said at the event. “He made the choice to fight the evil. His decency told him he could not ignore [it], even if it cost him his life.”

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The Italian legend Valentino celebrated his new fragrance, V, at a party Thursday night at the Four Seasons, drawing a diverse group of sexy American and Italian women. They were slinky, strong, flirtatious, aloof, and powerful, which means the market for V must be broad indeed. Many wore red, the designer’s signature color. Others walked around with elaborate feather masks – the model Eugenia Volodina is surrounded by red feathers in the fragrance’s ad campaign. Guests included Tinsley Mortimer, Pamela Anderson, and Zac Posen. The fragrance, developed with Proctor & Gamble, features fig, freesia, sandalwood, and cedarwood.