Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Map 1. The Jews of Italy, 1938
- Map 2. Principal Centers of Anti-Jewish Persecution, 1938–1943
- Introduction
- Part One ITALIAN JEWRY FROM LIBERALISM TO FASCISM
- Part Two RISE OF RACIAL PERSECUTIONS
- 4 Characteristics and Objectives of the Anti-Jewish Racial Laws in Fascist Italy, 1938–1943
- 5 The Exclusion of Jews from Italian Academies
- 6 The Damage to Italian Culture: The Fate of Jewish University Professors in Fascist Italy and After, 1938–1946
- 7 Building a Racial State: Images of the Jew in the Illustrated Fascist Magazine, La Difesa della Razza, 1938–1943
- 8 The Impact of Anti-Jewish Legislation on Everyday Life and the Response of Italian Jews, 1938–1943
- 9 The Children of Villa Emma at Nonantola
- 10 Anti-Jewish Persecution and Italian Society
- Part Three CATASTROPHE – THE GERMAN OCCUPATION, 1943–1945
- Part Four THE VATICAN AND THE HOLOCAUST IN ITALY
- Part Five AFTERMATH: CONTEMPORARY ITALY AND HOLOCAUST MEMORY
- Index
- Plates A–D
6 - The Damage to Italian Culture: The Fate of Jewish University Professors in Fascist Italy and After, 1938–1946
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Map 1. The Jews of Italy, 1938
- Map 2. Principal Centers of Anti-Jewish Persecution, 1938–1943
- Introduction
- Part One ITALIAN JEWRY FROM LIBERALISM TO FASCISM
- Part Two RISE OF RACIAL PERSECUTIONS
- 4 Characteristics and Objectives of the Anti-Jewish Racial Laws in Fascist Italy, 1938–1943
- 5 The Exclusion of Jews from Italian Academies
- 6 The Damage to Italian Culture: The Fate of Jewish University Professors in Fascist Italy and After, 1938–1946
- 7 Building a Racial State: Images of the Jew in the Illustrated Fascist Magazine, La Difesa della Razza, 1938–1943
- 8 The Impact of Anti-Jewish Legislation on Everyday Life and the Response of Italian Jews, 1938–1943
- 9 The Children of Villa Emma at Nonantola
- 10 Anti-Jewish Persecution and Italian Society
- Part Three CATASTROPHE – THE GERMAN OCCUPATION, 1943–1945
- Part Four THE VATICAN AND THE HOLOCAUST IN ITALY
- Part Five AFTERMATH: CONTEMPORARY ITALY AND HOLOCAUST MEMORY
- Index
- Plates A–D
Summary
The Cultural Background
On May 23, 1933, an Italian youth, while in Germany attending his studies, wrote home to a close friend about the problem of the anti-Semitic policies adopted by the newly established Nazi government. He maintained that in Germany there was “a very serious Jewish question which existed in itself” above and beyond the fact that “practically all the Jews were the enemies of the ‘revolution.’” Despite “statistical lies” characterizing Jews as a negligible minority, “they actually dominated the finance, the press, political parties and, in Berlin, represented the majority even in some professions.” Neither “religious differences nor racial prejudices are sufficient to explain why co-existence is impossible.” The point – he then remarked – is that German reality is totally different from the Italian one:
In Italy we are used to considering the Jews as survivors of history to whom we [do] not deny our respect and do not feel offended if some of them are proud of their origins. Our policy, based not on tolerance but on understanding, has yielded the best possible results, and it will continue to do so until the moment, not so far ahead, when the tradition of Jewish dealers will be considered on an equal footing with that of ancient maritime republics, just one of the many traditions the Italians, one single, indivisible people, are proud of.
The situation in Germany was “completely different.” In that country “the Jewish question existed” and “showed no sign of finding a spontaneous solution.”
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- Information
- Jews in Italy under Fascist and Nazi Rule, 1922–1945 , pp. 96 - 113Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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