Italian Jews Who Survived the Shoah: Jewish Self-Help and Italian Rescuers, 1943–1945

In the vast majority of cases, Jews who survived the Holocaust in Italy did so in one (or more) of three ways: by blending in with the non-Jewish population; by fleeing over the border into Switzerland; or by taking refuge in private homes, church dormitories or convents, or medical institutions. The author of this article presents the preliminary results of research based on archival documents, autobiographical works, and hundreds of survivor interviews. The aims of this extensive, ongoing research project are, first, to further examine Jews’ survival strategies; and second, to analyze rescuers’ demographic characteristics, with the ultimate goal of better understanding their motivations.