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GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA

MEMORY LINKS
Giorno della Memoria, UCEI
Resources/Shoah in Italy
Documents on YouTube
The Racial Laws
Programs in New York


INTELLECTUALS AND THE RACIAL LAWS
by Annalisa Capristo

When, in 1938, the Fascist government passed the anti-Semitic Racial Laws and the Jews were banned from the Italian society and cultural life, the prevalent reaction among Italian intellectuals was of silent acquiescence. In some cases, either out of conviction or opportunism, public figures adhered to the directives of the regime with a zeal that leads one to wonder how widespread anti-Semitic prejudice was within the academic world.

Although Fascism had demonstrated early its willingness to stop dissent with violence and many lived in fear, such "deafening silence" raises not only an historical question but also one of national conscience.

There were, however, exceptions to the general indifference: a handful of Italian intellectuals broke the silence and protested against the persecution of their Jewish fellow citizens and colleagues.

In August 1938, philosopher and liberal senator Benedetto Croce - who had spoken out against Nazi racism and anti-Semitism in his journal La Critica - joined a Swedish appeal in favor of German Jews and denounced the persecution of the Jews in Italy. When his stance became public, he was fiercely attacked in the Italian press.

On December 22, 1938 the headlines in the Turin newspaper La Stampa read: "Benedetto Croce on the side of the enemies of Italy." Croce also refused to file the form for the racial census that the Venetian Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts distributed to identify and expel the Jewish members of Italian academic and cultural institutions.

On September 21, 1938 he sent a letter to the president of the Institute explaining that he would have preferred to be expelled rather than return the form completed, as he did not intend to perform the "hateful and at the same time ridiculous act of certifying that I am not a Jew at a time in which the Jewish people is being persecuted."

Read more.


The public program at Centro Primo Levi is made possible in part by the generous contribution of the Cahnman Foundation
in memory of Italian scientist and philantropist Gisella Levi.
JANUARY 27: GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA
MEMORY, CIVIL SOCIETY AND EXILE 

January 27 | 6 pm
Center for Jewish History, 15 W 16 St.
Film screening and conversation. Due to great number of reservations we ask to allow 20/30 minutes to pick up your ticket.

Quella Pagina Strappata by Daniel Toaff, 1988. Courtesy of RAI Teche and RAI International, Istituto Luce. W/English subtitles. US premiere of a rarely seen documentary that provides an in-depth account of the promulgation of the anti-Jewish legislation in Italy and investigates the way in which Italians of today remember this infamous chapter of their history.
The film's exceptional era footage offers insight into Mussolini's foreign politics, the making of "imperial" Italy, and the relations with the Muslim leadership in the Italian colonies. 

Andrea Fiano (CPL) interviews Rabbi Jack Bemporad on the Racial Laws, the indifference and collaboration that allowed their promulgation in 1938, their consequences on the Italian society, and the turn they represented in the lives of Italian Jews.

RSVP: memoria@primolevicenter.org

Programs for Giorno della Memoria will be held throughout the week at the Italian Cultural Institute, Casa Italiana Zerilli Mariṃ, Italian Academy at Columbia University, John D. Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies. See full calendar.

Rabbi Jack Bemporad
Rabbi Jack Bemporad is the director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding aimed at bringing people of all religious faiths together to promote honest dialogue, mutual respect and theological understanding. He is a Holocaust refugee from Italy, which he fled with his family at age six.
He has been at the center of many of the negotiations improving the relationship between Christians and Jews.

In February 1990, Bemporad was sent to Rome to help negotiate the relocation of the Carmelite Convent in Auschwitz, Poland. In September 1990, he was the primary writer of the Prague Accord, the first time in history that the Vatican asked forgiveness of the Jewish people for past acts of anti-Semitism. In 1999, he delivered an address at the Vatican's Conference on Interreligious Relations before 50,000 people at St. Peters, including Pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama and religious leaders from throughout the world. In January 2003, Bemporad was a principal writer of the statement issued on behalf of the world's religions at a Vatican symposium on the "Spiritual Resources of the Religions for Peace."

Rabbi Bemporad received a B.A. degree with honors in philosophy from Tulane University. At Hebrew Union College, he received his M.A. in philosophy, again with honors. Bemporad is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Rome. Bemporad was an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Southern Methodist University and has taught at the University of Rome, the New School for Social Research, and the University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves as Professor of Interreligious Studies at the Vatican's Angelicum University in Rome and is the author of numerous books and articles, including "Our Age: The Historic New Era of Christian-Jewish Understanding," which was published by New City Press.

Andrea Fiano
Andrea Fiano is the US Correspondent of the Italian financial daily paper Milano Finanza and of Class-Cnbc (the Italian affiliate of Cnbc). He has written for American publications such a Barron's, Global Finance and the Jersey Journal and appeared on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer and on NPR.
Born in Florence, Mr. Fiano graduated at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and attended post-graduate classes at Wharton and the New School for Social Research. Mr. Fiano has lived for over 25 years in New York. He is an active member of the Foreign Press Association and of ACINA, the Italian correspondents association in the US, and member of the board of the Primo Levi Center in New York. His essay on the publishing history of Primo Levi's work in the US appeared in an international anthology published by the Florence University Press.
About
Inspired by the humanistic legacy of writer and chemist Primo Levi, who survived Auschwitz and defined the place of memory in modern societies, Centro Primo Levi is dedicated to studying the history and culture of Italian Jewry, sharing beyond linguistic borders its current ferments and future perspectives.
With twenty-two centuries of history and a unique tradition of communal diversity, tolerance and integration, the Italian Jewish community is today considered one of the most vital minorities in Europe.Through cooperative policies, programs, networking, grant-making, and publishing, CPL helps individuals and institutions coordinate goals, optimize resources, and ensure that the historical heritage and contemporary ideas of Italian Judaism are accessible in English language through a unified portal. Operating under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy and in close collaboration with the Italian Association for Jewish Studies and the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities, CPL partners with research institutions in Italy, Israel, and the US.

The Center for Jewish History is one of the great public Jewish historical and cultural institutions in the world, having achieved recognition as a venue of unrivaled historical documentation and scholarship, imaginative exhibitions of art and artifacts, and vital public dialogue.