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Description
How did Italy treat Jews during World War II? Historians have shown beyond doubt that many Italians were complicit in the Holocaust, yet Italy is still known as the Axis state that helped Jews. Shira Klein uncovers how Italian Jews, though victims of Italian persecution, promoted the view that Fascist Italy was categorically good to them. She shows how the Jews' experience in the decades before World War II - during which they became fervent Italian patriots while maintaining their distinctive Jewish culture - led them later to bolster the myth of Italy's wartime innocence in the Fascist racial campaign. Italy's Jews experienced a century of dramatic changes, from emancipation in 1848, to the 1938 Racial Laws, wartime refuge in America and Palestine, and the rehabilitation of Holocaust survivors. This cultural and social history draws on a wealth of unexplored sources, including original interviews and unpublished memoirs.
ISBN
9781108539739
Publication Date
12-2017
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
City
Cambridge, UK
Disciplines
Cultural History | European History | History of Religion | History of Religions of Western Origin | Jewish Studies | Other History | Other Religion | Political History | Public History | Social History
Recommended Citation
Klein, Shira. Italy’s Jews from Emancipation to Fascism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Copyright
The author
Included in
Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Other History Commons, Other Religion Commons, Political History Commons, Public History Commons, Social History Commons
Comments
The downloadable file is for Chapter 6 of the book, "Fur Coats in the Desert: Italian Jewish Refugees in Palestine". Please visit your local library or purchase the book through the "Buy This Book" link above to read the full text.