Susan Zuccotti, whose historical analysis provides valuable insight into the Holocaust in Italy, purports an interesting dichotomy of questions. After the German occupation of Italy in 1943, the

More important than the short danger period perhaps were characteristics of the Italian Jews. They were few in number, a tiny minority; also they were not used to living in ghettos and were mostly middle class to begin with. Thus, having financial means, their survival was facilitated (bribery, Zuccotti points out earlier, was a common means of obtaining safety). Unlike the situation in other European countries, particularly Poland, the Jews were physically indistinguishable from their fellow countrymen, and did not live apart generally from Christians. Still one other less tangible characteristic of the Italian Jews and non-Jews alike was an amiable inclination to ignore the law. It seems never to have occurred to most Italian Jews to report for internment, as did many Dutch, Hungarian, Czech, and German Jews. They became clever at fooling authorities by means such as supplying false documents. Another characteristic that made them unique from other European Jews was th!

Levis book is full of emotion and is very insightful to the situation faced by Italian Jews in foreign concentration camps. One particularly interesting excerpt is of Levi speaking of an old Jew named Kuhn who was spared being selected for death among prisoners. That night, oblivious to the fate of his fellows, oblivious to the abomination that just took place, the wretch prayed aloud to his God, in audible range of everyone around him, giving thanks for his deliverance. If I was God, was Levis comment, I would spit at Kuhns prayer.24 Why did Levi turn on one of his coreligionists his strongest words of scorn? The answer perhaps lies in his repeated statement that he could nourish no hatred for the German people. He hated no people as such. If the Italian Jews clung together, it was not through antipathy that they collectively shared toward others, but it was because they were so helpless and so few. They were not tough and resilient and skilled at the arts of

In terms of how Italian Jews fared in foreign concentration camps, we turn to Primo Levis popular Holocaust account, Survival in Auschwitz,23 in which he writes about his ten month stay. His tail is of particular interest; firstly, it is written in a tone of moderation, occasioned by quiet humor, as opposed to a white-hot torrent that so many others have (justifiably) come to write of their experiences. Levi took care to detail the special circumstances which helped him to survive. He freely recognizes a series of fortunate accidents. His stay in Auschwitz was short, less than a year; he was befriended by an Italian deportee, a civilian worker, who gave him extra food and clothing; his competence as a chemist entitled him eventually to sheltered work in the neighboring Buna factory, which was struggling in vain to produce synthetic rubber for the German war effort; and most bizarrely of all, a sickness that almost killed him saved his life. With the advance of the Red Army, the SS guards evacuated most of the prisoners west, on an extremely harsh winter trek, where nearly all perished. Levi, who was one of hundreds too sick to tramp through the snow, stayed behind and awaited rescue by the Russians. It was this final ten-day phase of survival, unguarded and abandoned to the bitter January cold, that Levi narrates in full grisly detail.

Italys Jews can trace their roots back to ancient times. The Vatican was well preceded by the synagogue. Throughout the Christian era and the Middle Ages, the Jews of Italy faced many restrictions and persecutions, with brief interludes of calm. The Renaissance, from approximately the early fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century, offered some relief. The Counter-Reformation then shattered tolerance and introduced the phenomena of the ghetto; the word ghetto is said to derive from the Italian word getto, which means metal casting and refers to the iron foundries in the part of Venice where Jews were first confined in the sixtee

Some topics in this essay:
Italian Jews, Jews Italy, Republic Salò, Holocaust Italy, Survival Auschwitz23, Italian SS, Pius XII, Concerning Mussolini, Jewish Italians, Rome Jews, italian jews, jews italy, holocaust italy, italys jews, italian army, september 1943, racial laws, september 8, german occupation, rescue efforts, short danger period, foreign concentration camps, rights italian citizens, physically indistinguishable fellow, german occupation italy,