Printed Matter
Centro Primo Levi's online monthly on the work of Primo Levi, Italian Jewish history, culture and current affairs. 
Upcoming programs
 
June 29
6:00 pm 
Italian Cultural Institute 
686 Park Avenue

Renata Calabresi: Italian Psychology and Jewish Emigration under Fascism, From Florence to Jerusalem and New York 

Giorgio Van Straten, (Italian Cultural Institute),
Alessandro Cassin (Centro Primo Levi), Patrizia Guarneri (University of Florence), Mary Gibson (John Jay College and the Graduate Center). With the participation of Judge
Guido Calabresi.

Fascism and the racial laws of 1938 dramatically changed the scientific research and the academic community. Guarnieri focuses on psychology, from its promising origins to the end of the WWII. Psychology was marginalized in Italy, with long- lasting consequences, both by fascism and the neo-idealistic reaction against science. Academics and young scholars were persecuted because they were antifascist or Jews and the story of Italian displaced scholars is still an embarrassing one. The book follows scholars who emigrated to the United States, such as psychologist Renata Calabresi, and to Palestine, such as Enzo Bonaventura. Guarnieri traces their journey and the help they received from antifascist and Zionist networks and by international organizations. Some succeeded, some did not, and very few went back. Read
Recommended

July 12 
2:00 pm
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street

The Rescue Activities of the Comit� d'Aide aux Refugi�s in Italian-Occupied Southeastern France

Luca Fenoglio (University of Edinburgh)

Presented by the JDC Archives
Luca Fenoglio is a recipient of the 2016 Martin and Rhoda Safer/JDC Archives Fellowship. 

This lecture will present the rescue activities of the Comit� d'Aide aux Refugi�s, known as Comit� Dubouchage, during World War II. The Comit� Dubouchage helped Jews prior to the great roundup across Vichy France of August 1942. It later assisted Jewish refugees in the Italian occupation zone between November 1942 and September 1943. The lecture will survey the organization's origins and activities, and examine the roles of some of the Comit�'s most prominent members.
QUEST 
Journal of the Fondazione CDEC


Davide Rodogno,
Quest, 2014

This compact, dense and well-written book is worth reading. A young and talented historian, Luca Fenoglio, who is completing in PhD in Edinburgh, wrote it while his thesis manuscript is not yet achieved. He should be praised for such an accomplishment. Readers interested in the history of Italian anti-Semitism, of Italian military occupations during the Second World War and Fascist policies towards the Jews, will appreciate the study because of its clarity and the originality and soundness of the argument. 

The book offers a balanced account and brings to the fore many documents researched in several archives.

Fenoglio puts forward his own interpretation of Fascist policies towards the Jews, connecting the figure, role, thought and actions of Angelo Donati to the events. Fenoglio places Donati in the midst of the events carefully. He wisely contextualizes the work of Donati to save the Jews in Southern France, avoiding a hagiographical account of the deeds of a hero. Fenoglio also offers his interpretation of where, how, and why previous generations of historians - including the author of this review - overlooked, misread or misinterpreted sources they consulted. History books should not be written to last forever; they do not contain incontrovertible truths; new research is supposed to complete, strengthen or revise statements and arguments put forward by previous cohorts of scholars. This is the purpose of Fenoglio's book.

THANKS
Centro Primo Levi is the recipient of the endowment fund established by the Viterbi Family in memory of Achille and Maria Viterbi. CPL's activities are supported by the Cahnman Foundation, Peter S. Kalikow, Claude Ghez, David Berg Foundation, John Elkann, Charles Hallac z'l & Sarah Keil Wolf, Jeffrey Keil & Danielle Pinet.