Beyond the things themselves. Economic aspects of the Italian race laws (1938-2018)

Within the framework of Holocaust studies, the Italian case did not alwaysreceive the attention it deserves. One of the unique aspects of the Fascistantisemitic campaign that influenced the scope and harshness of theactions against the Jews, is its length; it went on for seven years, makingItaly’s period of persecution second in duration (in Western Europe) onlyto that of Nazi Germany. From the late summer of 1938, while the countrywas still at peace, to the fall of 1943, persecution was ordered and overseensolely by the Fascist authorities, with regulations excluding Jews from theeconomic life of the country: expelling them from the workplace, restrictingtheir property and generally limiting their political and civil rights.In this study we analyze the economic aspectsof Jewish persecution and the community’s struggle before, during andafter the Second World War. We expose the persecutory intentions andmechanisms of the Italian regime and discusses the long series of provisions,decrees, and laws that severely affected the Jewish community. The diligentand rigorous application of the rules by officials and bureaucrats, includingexpropriations of houses, businesses, and land, as well as the exclusionfrom workplaces and professions, and then, during the period of 1943-1945,confiscations, and looting of personal possessions, left the Jews shattered.Moreover, even the conclusion of the war did not provide the anticipatedrelief. For Italian Jews the road to reintegration and the return of seizedproperties was long and difficult, characterized by contradictory andinsufficient laws, lack of empathy by clerks and general indifference tothe violations suffered in seven long years of persecution.