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1 ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI ROMA viaggi nella 4 The Racial Laws and the Jewish Community of Rome Editor Manola Ida Venzo and Bice Migliau

2 viaggi nella 4 Series of the Archivio di Stato di Roma Director Luigi Londei Editorial Staff Daniela Sinisi, Maria Grazia Branchetti Graphics Simonetta Rossi Cover Luisa Salvatori Administrative Office Rossana Dominici Photographs Emilio Tedeschi

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4 ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI ROMA Viaggi nella memoria Series of the Archivio di Stato di Roma Director Luigi Londei Editorial Staff Daniela Sinisi, Maria Grazia Branchetti Graphics Simonetta Rossi Cover Luisa Salvatori Administrative Office Rossana Dominici Photographs Emilio Tedeschi All rights reserved Gangemi Editore spa Piazza San Pantaleo 4, Roma No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system or reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopying, without the necessary permission. ISBN Front cover: from La difesa della razza, November 1938 Other publications I luoghi della Sapienza by M.G. Branchetti (2000 rist. 2002) Palazzo Madama: dalla famiglia Medici al Senato by C. Ficola, E. Graziani, M. Pieretti, M.A. Quesada (2001) Vivere in piazza nella Roma dei papi by C. Genovese, D. Sinfisi (2002) First Edition 2003 Second Edition Archivio di Stato di Roma, Viaggi nella memoria Corso Rinascimento 40, Roma

5 viaggi nella The Racial Laws and the Jewish Community of Rome Editor Manola Ida Venzo and Bice Migliau Essays Silvia Haia Antonucci, Claudio Procaccia, Luca Saletti, Giancarlo Spizzichino 4

6 Table of contents Fascism and the Racial Laws 10 Manola Ida Venzo A Story of Betrayal 24 Luca Saletti The Jewish Schools of Rome in Bice Migliau The Roman Jews from the Emancipation to the Racial Laws. 29 Economic and Social Aspects Claudio Procaccia Daily Life during the Racial Laws and the Nazi Occupation: Testimonies 33 Silvia Haia Antonucci and Giancarlo Spizzichino War, Nazi Occupation and Deportation in Rome 37 Silvia Haia Antonucci Timeline ( ) 41 A Look at the Documents 42 Manola Ida Venzo Basic Bibliography 46 9

7 War, Nazi Occupation and Deportation in Rome Silvia Haia Antonucci When the racial laws were passed in 1938, some Jews saw the signs of danger in the situation of those years and, depending on means and resources, they emigrated, chiefly to the United States, South America, Switzerland and Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. But most Roman Jews stayed, convinced that the greater danger would be avoided in the city of the Popes. That belief proved to be wrong and in there were frequent threats to Jews, especially in the area of the Great Synagogue. After Italy entered the war on June 4, 1940, living conditions worsened, despite the best efforts of the Jewish community to endure the deprivations of the times. In 1941 Roman Jews were further humiliated when subjected toby an injunction for to perform forced labor on the banks of the Tiber River. With the fall of Fascism and the Note from Ezio Spizzichino, thrown from the train that left from Carpi for Auschwitz, May 16, Private archives Letter from the Righi and Richetti families who found the note from Ezio Spizzichino and send it to Friar Pietro, May 17, Private archives 37

8 38 Viaggi nella memoria armistice of September 8, 1943, the Nazis occupied Italy, the Republic of Salò was established and roundups and deportation to the Nazi concentration camps commenced throughout Italy. At the time, Italy s Jewish Community numbered 35,000 people, including foreigners, concentrated mainly in the central and northern areas of the country. The task of the SS was unquestionably facilitated by Mussolini s dictatorship: the Chief of Police of every city possessed had lists of the names of Italian and foreign Jews and addresses dating back to the special census of conducted during the Certificate of membership in the Jewish race presented by summer of 1938 and Alceste Della Seta, February 16, Jewish Cultural Center, Rome regularly updated with data from the Notification of Membership in the Jewish Race. Informers were also frequent. The people arrested in Rome were taken to the Regina Coeli prison or to Via Tasso where the Gestapo Headquarters were located. Today, the building infamous for the torture inflicted there, is a museum. At the end of September 1943, the Nazis demanded that the Jewish community hand over 50 kilos of gold. Strangely enough, meeting the request created a false sense of tranquility, shattered by the roundup of October 16, In the days that followed, the SS ransacked the Jewish Community offices, carrying the registers, most of the archives and documents, and confiscating over two million lire of the time. The harassment was stepped up after September 30 and the Community Library one of the largest in Europe and the Library of the Italian Rabbinical College were plundered and the Nazis appropriated numerous rare, extremely valuable antique volumes. Some Jews found refuge in monasteries and parish churches. Testimony of survivors shows that while some priests and nuns risked their lives to hide Jews, other demanded compensation or pressured the Jews to convert. Other Jews were saved

9 The Racial Laws and the Jewish Community of Rome with the help of everyday citizens, including apartment building concierges, servants and farmers who risked their lives by hiding Jews in dwellings, cellars, attics and cottages in the countryside. Living conditions were harsh: there is testimony of people who slept on kitchen tables or children who were put to sleep in drawers. Some Jews found safety in hospitals. At the Fratebenefratelli Hospital, physicians actually invented a new illness for Jews; they called it K on the charts, referring to Marshall Kesserling, commander of the occupying forces of central and southern Italy. On March 24, 1944, following a partisan attack on the Nazi offices on Via Rasella, 335 people including 75 Jews were killed at the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine. Some Jews joined the partisans, fighting chiefly in the Castelli Romani villages to the south of Rome (Albano and Frascati). They included Marco Moscati, who was killed at the Fosse Ardeatine, Pino Levi Cavaglione from Genoa who described the partisan Betrayal to the German command, informing on Benedetto Veneziano, Jew from Rome, who travels up and down Italy, scheming and plotting. Signed, A Friend of Germany s. November 7, 1943 Jewish Cultural Center, Rome

10 40 Viaggi nella memoria struggle in Rome in his book Guerriglia nei castelli romani (Guerrilla Warfare in the Castelli Romani), Eugenio and Sylvia Elfer, Leone Ginzburg, Eugeio Colorni, Enzo Sereni ideologue and pioneer of the Zionist Socialist movement who left his kibbutz in Israel to collaborate with the allies for the liberation of Italy. Sereni parachuted behind the Gothic line on May 15, 1944; he was captured by the Germans and killed in Dachau. Some police commissioners invite apartment concierges to keep their eyes on citizens of Jewish race who could send light signals to enemy planes during night time attacks, June 25, ASCER, folder n. 110, Rome

11 re sp a viaggi nella The years between 1938 and 1943 witnessed the approval of a massive, detailed set of laws discriminating against the Jews. While there were indeed moments of anti-semitism in Italy after unification fed primarily by some Catholic groups the leitmotifs so dear to anti-jewish propaganda only began to appear widely in the Italian press with the rise of Fascism. In 1933, Telesio Interlandi, writing for Il Tevere and Roberto Farinacci for Il regime fascista, triggered a furious press campaign against the Jews. The campaign quickly spread to the other Fascist papers. e Ga ng e mi ed ito ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI ROMA 4 The Racial Laws and the Jewish Community of Rome Editor Manola Ida Venzo and Bice Migliau viaggi nella Director Luigi Londei Editorial Staff Daniela Sinisi, Maria Grazia Branchetti Graphics Simonetta Rossi tor Administrative Office Rossana Dominici Photographs Emilio Tedeschi Front cover: from La difesa della razza, November 1938 Back cover: Telegram of the Minister of the Interior who invites the Prefects to exacerbate the racial policy against the Jews, ASR, Prefettura, Gabinetto, folder n t 10, Series of the Archivio di Stato di Roma Cover Luisa Salvatori au pia co The Racial Laws and the Jewish Community of Rome Ro ma M. Venzo - op_leggi_razziali COVER_cope_legg_razziali 01/04/15 14:36 Pagina 1

12 The years between 1938 and 1943 witnessed the approval of a massive, detailed set of laws discriminating against the Jews. While there were indeed moments of anti-semitism in Italy after unification fed primarily by some Catholic groups the leitmotifs so dear to anti-jewish propaganda only began to appear widely in the Italian press with the rise of Fascism. In 1933, Telesio Interlandi, writing for Il Tevere and Roberto Farinacci for Il regime fascista, triggered a furious press campaign against the Jews. The campaign quickly spread to the other Fascist papers.