The Jews in Mussolini's Italy: From Equality to Persecution (review)

"The Jews of Italy," declared Mussolini in an article printed in the New York Times on 25 June 1936, "have had, presently have, and will continue to have the same treatment as any other Italian citizen, and […] there is no place in my mind for any form of racial or religious discrimination'"(120). Mussolini's respect for the foreign press is one of many attributes that differentiate him from his German allies. And his supposed 'honesty' has, in many ways, paid off. Even today, many students and scholars of Italian fascism adopt the stance that Mussolini himself put forward regarding his benevolent treatment of Italy's Jews.

There is a stark difference, however, between the images that Mussolini projected of himself abroad and the facts that occurred on the ground. Michele Sarfatti's The Jews in Mussolini's Italy challenges the perception of Mussolini as a largely benign leader who was simply pressured by Hitler to pass the racial laws that circumscribed the lives of Italy's Jews. Indeed, Sarfatti not only examines documentation that suggests that Rome was capable of acting independently of Berlin; Sarfatti also disputes the argument that Mussolini, while caving in to Nazi Germany by passing the racial laws, demonstrated his ambivalence for these racial tactics by not following up on arrests or implementing deportations as forcefully as he might have. Thus, Sarfatti suggests that many conclusions that scholars have formed of Mussolini are the result of their having accepted the dictator's own declarations, rather than interrogating the dictator's public self-image. One of the most powerful weapons in Sarfatti's arsenal is the careful inspection of archival material that documents attacks on Jewish rights, equality, and life from 1922 to 1945. Sarfatti uses these records to demonstrate that Mussolini was an aggressive and manipulative leader steeped in anti-Semitism. Indeed, his powers as an orator and statesman continue to serve him in that they have contributed to the positive light in which revisionists attempt to portray him.

Sarfatti's text, adeptly translated into English by John and Anne C. Tedeschi, is an expanded version of the original Italian (published in 2000 by Einaudi). The first two chapters provide a two-part introduction. In chapter 1, Sarfatti gives a brief overview of the condition of Jews in Italy from Unification, in 1860, through 1922. During this period Italian Jews gradually became more politically and socially active and were "engaged in a complex redefinition of their religious and national identities" (10). Chapter 2 provides an overview of their situation at the advent of the regime by providing a demographic picture of a time when Jews made up a tiny fraction of the nation's population (0.1 percent); were generally literate and led the country in low birth rates; lived almost entirely in northern and central Italy (primarily in urban centers); and included individuals and families of great wealth and severe poverty. In other words, there is little here that would suggest what their fate would be 15–20 years hence.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are the core of Sarfatti's examination. In the third chapter, the author examines the early years of Mussolini's regime, from 1922– 1936. In November 1922, Mussolini stated that: "'All religious faiths will be respected, with special regard to the dominant one, which is Catholicism'"(43). This statement marks the beginning of the gradual revocation of rights for minority religions that culminated in February 1929 when the treaty between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy defined Catholicism as "the sole religion of the state" (45). The implications for other religions were serious, since this statement officially acknowledges an inequality among the various faiths represented and practiced on the peninsula. While Mussolini's statement was directed at all minority religions, Jews were destined to suffer most from this new course, in large part due to Mussolini's anti-Semitic sentiments and his deep suspicion of Zionism, as evidenced by a...