From the anti-Jewish Laws (racial laws) to the Shoah - Seven years in Italian History 1938-1945

An exhibition curated by the CDEC Foundation, on display at the new Shoah Memorial of Milan, February 2016

The exhibition

‘Dalle leggi antiebraiche alla Shoah - Sette anni di storia italiana 1938-1945’ (‘From the anti-Jewish Laws (Racial Laws) to the Shoah - Seven years in Italian History’ 1938-1945) is the title of the exhibition curated by EHRI partner, the CDEC Foundation, at the new Shoah Memorial of Milan last February.

As the title highlights, this exhibition deals with the tragic years of the persecution of the Jews in Italy, from the introduction of Racial Laws in 1938 to the Nazi occupation of Italy in September 1943 and the simultaneous beginning of the deportations of Jews, up to their conclusion in January 1945.

Fascist Racial Laws

After decades of integration and assimilation into Italian society, which started in 1848 with the Emancipation Decree (the Statuto Albertino) and culminated in the committed and confident participation of the Jews in the First World War, 1938’s Fascist Racial Laws were perceived by the Italian Jews as most painful and (by some) an unbelievable act of the Fascist government.

Unique occasion

The exhibition tells this story, of inclusion and then of unexpected and sudden exclusion, through a series of printed panels and a group of more than 30 original documents coming from the Library and the Archive of the CDEC Foundation. In the nine showcases available at the Shoah Memorial, original books, photographs, papers, and registers have been exhibited. Some of this material has not yet been digitized so, the exhibition represented an almost unique occasion for the general public to have a close look at them.

Fourth Conference of the Italian Jewish Youth

At the start of the exhibition was a picture dating back to 1924. It was taken in Livorno on occasion of one of the most important and influential Jewish meeting of those years, namely the fourth Conference of the Italian Jewish Youth (Convegno dei Giovani Ebrei italiani). The photograph depicts a large group of men and women who attended the conference. Among others, there were some of the young promises of the Italian Judaism: Enzo Sereni, Carlo Rosselli, Dante Lattes, Alfonso Pacifici. The conference was a turning-point where the future of both Judaism and Italy - already ruled by Benito Mussolini – was lively debated.

Primo Levi

A special showcase was devoted to a selected number of pictures of Primo Levi (1919- 1987) in his childhood, during the 20’s and 30’s. The young Primo Levi is alternatively portrayed alone or together with his sister, Anna Maria, or with his father Cesare, and his mother Ester Luzzatti, during their vacation at Spotorno or Torre Pellice. The full collection of original photographs of Primo Levi and his family (59 items) has been donated to the CDEC Foundation by Anna Maria Levi between 2009 and 2011.

Two documents

To represent 1938’s Racial Laws and their consequences, two documents were chosen. The first was the degree’s diploma of the Polish Jew Arie Leib Treistmann (or Trejstmann). The diploma was issued by the University of Bologna in December 1939 and it has clearly the writing “di razza ebraica” (of Jewish race)”. Arie Leib Treistmann was interned into the camp of Campagna (near Salerno) in 1940; he was transferred to Ferramonti di Tarsia and then to Nereto (Teramo). He was arrested on the 9th of February 1944, jailed into the prison of Bologna, then transferred to the Fossoli’s concentration camp. He was deported to Auschwitz on the 22th of February 1944 where he died on the 18 January 1945.

The second document is an impressive 1942’s picture-postcard that depicts the inscription on the wall of a shop in Trieste: “Negozio ebreo chiuso per sempre” (Jewish shop closed forever). This picture has been used as cover image of the exhibition (see image on this page). The shop was located along Corso Vittorio Emanuele III, one of the main streets of Trieste (currently, Corso Italia). Information about the photographer is not available. The picture is included in the CDEC’s collection “Jewish Community of Trieste”.

Prefecture in Milan

The register of the Prefecture in Milan is another item from 1942 shown in this exhibition: it lists names and addresses of the Jews (Italian and foreigners) resident in Milan in 1942. The register has been opened at the pages where the names of the young Davide Danon, born in Milan in 1928, his father, Joel Danon born in Smirne in 1904, and Carlo D’angeli born in Milan in 1938, are listed. All of them were deported to Auschwitz and didn’t survive.

Anti-Semitic books

The second part of the exhibition has been devoted to anti-Semitic books and journals published in Italy starting from 1938. Some examples:

• “La Difesa della Razza” (a bimonthly journal published in Rome from the 5th of August 1938 until the 20th of June 1943), founded and edited by Telesio Interlandi (1894-1965), a journalist, member of the National Fascist party, who never hid his anti-Semitism. He was the editor of the unofficial fascist daily newspaper, Il Tevere from 1924 to 1943, and the author of several anti-Semitic books, including Contra Judeos (Roma, Tumminelli, 1938), exhibited among the 1938’s anti-Semitic books;
• Enrico (Henry) Ford, Ebreo internazionale: Un problema del mondo (The International Jew: the World’s Foremost Problem) Milano, Sonzogno, 1938. It was originally published in 1920 but translated and distributed in Italy in 1938.
• Piero Pellicano, Ecco il diavolo: Israele (Here the Devil: Israel) Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 1938;
• Ecco gli ebrei: Dai Protocolli dei Savi Anziani di Sion alle concezioni razziste (Here the Jews: from the Protocols of the Elder of Zion to the Racist concepts) Milano, EMI, 1938;
• Giulio de' Rossi dell'Arno, L'ebraismo contro l'Europa (Judaism against Europe) Roma, Maglione, 1940;
• Another anti-Semitic book, published by the Fascist National Party and especially addressed to the teenagers has also been displayed : the Secondo libro del fascista (The second book of the Fascist) Roma, A. Mondadori, a. XVIII dell'E. F. (1939-1940).

The Shoah Memorial in Milan

The exhibition was held at the Shoah Memorial in Milan.The Shoah Memorial is built around the so called Binario 21 (Track 21),in the basement of the Central Railway Station of Milan. Binario 21 was originally designed and used for loading and unloading mail and goods. From here, hidden from the sight of the passengers by the ordinary railway tracks, hundreds of Jews, packed into cattle wagons, were deported to the concentration and extermination camps. The wagons were raised on the tracks by a lift truck; once positioned at the starting dock, they were attached to the convoys directed to the concentration and extermination camps. The first convoy left Milan on the 6th of December 1943. Three convoys then left from Binario 21 directed to Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen, deporting 889 Jews. Another 10 convoys left from Milan directed to Italian camps such as Fossoli, Verona and Bolzano where Jews were moved to other convoys and then deported to the camps of Auschwitz, Ravensbruck, and Flossenburg. (See Liliana Picciotto, Il Libro della Memoria. Gli ebrei deportati dall’Italia (1943-1945), Milano 2002; ID. Gli ebrei in provincia di Milano: 1943/1945. Persecuzione e deportazione, Milano, 1992. See also, CDEC Digital Library.)

Hidden place

This subterranean track stopped being used just after the Second World War, and remained lost for more than four decades. The existence of this hidden track came to light in the 90's thanks to the investigations made by Liliana Picciotto and Marcello Pezzetti from the CDEC Foundation who, following the clues given by the survivors in their testimonies, located and unearthed this "hidden place". Essential to the discovery was the identification made by the Italian survivor Liliana Segre who recognized and confirmed that it was the place where she started her tragic journey to Auschwitz.

The work to build the Memorial began in 2002 and is still in progress. The CDEC Foundation is one of the founding partners, together with the Union of the Italian Jewish Community, the Jewish Community of Milan, the Ferrovie dello Stato and other institutions.

Article by Laura Brazzo, CDEC