1938The Italian Racial Laws

Chronology

• 1935 the "Nuremberg Laws" defined the exclusion of German Jews from the Reich citizenship, and prohibited them to marry people of "German or German-related blood.”

• 1937 Royal Decree 880 prohibited the “acquisition of concubines and the marriage of Italian citizens with subjects of the Italian colonies”.

• July 1938 - Giornale d’Italia anonymously publishes the Manifesto of Racist Scientists.

September-December 1938 - Promulgation of the Racial Laws.

• The Fascist government issues a series of provisions regulating, with separate bills, the exclusion of foreign and Italian Jews from the school, the academia, politics, finances, professional world, and all sectors of public and private life.

• Italian citizens of the Jewish religion were no longer allowed to:

• attend school • marry non-Jew• to be drafted in the Army• to own or administrate firms• to own or administrate land and real estate over a

certain value• to hire non-Jewish employees• to be hired in the public administration, by political

parties, banks, insurance companies, newspapers, publishing houses, artistic, research, and educational institutions.

• July 1940 - New taxes are imposed on Jewish professionals.

• February 1941 - The State agency that regulates the seizing of Jewish properties receive authorization to liquidate them.

• April 1942 - The use of theatrical and musical materials authored by Jews is prohibited.

• October 1942 - New limitations are imposed and enforced on Jewish citizens residing in Libya.

• November 30, 1943 - The police issues the order to arrest Jews residing in Italy and territories under Italian control.

• January 1944 - New rulings are issued to seize and liquidate Jewish assets.

Articles of the Manifesto:

• •Human races exist.• •There are great races and small races. • •The notion of race is purely biological. • •The majority of the current Italian population is of the Arian origin

and of Arian civilization.• •It is a mere legend that large masses of migrants came into the

country.• •There is today a pure “Italian race”.• •It is time that Italians proclaim themselves genuinely racist.• •It is necessary to make a distinction between the Mediterranean

people of Europe (Westerners) and Eastern and African people.• •The Jews do not belong to the Italian race.• •The purely European physical and psychological characters of the

Italian people must not be altered.

Jewish Intellectuals joined the partisans

Civil Society and Exile

Among the public figures who were forced to leave Italy after the promulgation of the racial laws are many man and women in the worlds of science, art, and the humanities, including:• the psychiatrist Silvano Arieti, • composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, • Islamist Giorgio Levi Della Vida,• economist Franco Modigliani,• mathematician Salvador Luria and Emilio Segrè,• architect Bruno Zevi, the family of Tullia and Eugenio Calabi, • physicist Enrico Fermi, • and many others.

“Discrimination letters”

Discrimination letters can be a useful tool to better understand how well integrated in the Italian civil society the Jewish Community was.

We mustn’t forget that many Jewish politicians, officials, etc. had supported the Fascist party in coming to power. Guido Jung, of Jewish origins, was Minister of Finances from 1932 to 1935And Margherita Sarfatti was not only one of Mussolini’s closest friends but also his lover and biographer.

Many high ranking officers in the Royal Army were Jewish but with the promulgation of the Racial Laws in 1938 they were dismissed.We must understand that identity is not a fixed concept and that the many aspects that contribute to the formation of one’s peculiar identity can (but don’t have to) include ethnicity, sex gender, language, political orientation, nationality and religion.

At the beginning of the ‘900s, after an historical period known as “Risorgimento”, the National Identity constituted for many the most important factor in determining one’s identity.Being Italian came first.Religion played a secondary role.

Many letters requesting Mussolini to ignore the “racial” belonging began to flow in the “Demorazza” offices.This handwritten letter (see next slide), was written by Moshe Cohen a Lieutenant Cornel of the Italian Royal Army.He declares ready to give his life for the Fatherland dying as a faithful Italian and asks to be “discriminated” from other Jews (i.e. not to be considered as a Jew).He’s request will remain unheard and he will be dismissed.

This example gives us an idea of the complexity in defining identities and should make us aware of the fact that creating “macro-categories” is not only imprecise, but also dangerous being the first step towards xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Semitism and all other forms of discrimination.