It was pointed out to me that this year, Easter (for non-Orthodox Christians) happened to fall on the same day as Hitler's birthday, 20 April. Of course Passover immediately precedes Easter, and 8-9 April is Yad Vashem, the Jewish day of remembrance for Holocaust victims. Italian author and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi died 11 April 1987. This seems a most appropriate month to consider Italy and the Holocaust.

TOLERANCE AND ASSIMILATION
The Italian record on the Holocaust, though not spotless, is a lot more positive than that of most of the rest of Europe. It is clear that Italians, though allied with Nazi Germany, in general did not share the Nazis' genocidal zeal.

Before 1938, the fascist Italian government had not joined its Axis ally Germany in its persecution of Jews. Jews made up about 0.1% of the population and were very well assimilated. It was not unheard of for Italian Jews to marry Catholic Italians. The average Italian might have perceived Jews as having different and perhaps strange-seeming worship customs, but in general they were considered normal friends and neighbors. Jews even felt comfortable joining the Fascist Party, out of patriotism for their country.

1938: MUSSOLINI FALLS IN LINE WITH HITLER
Things began to change in 1938 for Italian Jews. Mussolini, in his craven desire to please the Fuhrer, initiated a comprehensive anti-Semitic campaign at the urging of the Nazis, including miscegenation laws and a media campaign against Jews. Jews were forbidden to teach in schools. Foreign Jews living as refugees in Italy were rounded up and confined in internment camps. However, these camps were a lot more like the Japanese-American internment camps than the Nazi death camps.

Thousands of Jews seeking refuge went to Italy and Italian-occupied territories because they knew that they were likely to be protected rather than persecuted. In general the Italian people did not buy into the government's anti-Jewish policies, though Italian intellectuals were curiously silent.

1943: GERMANY TAKES MATTERS IN ITS OWN HANDS
The situation took a dramatic turn for the worse in 1943 when Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned. Gen. Badoglio assumed the Prime Minister's post and immediately began negotiating a ceasefire with the Allies. Enraged, Hitler used force in an attempt to bring Italy back into the Axis fold as well as teach the Italians a lesson. Despite the increasingly desperate situation on the Eastern Front, Germany sent troops to occupy northern and central Italy. This was very unfortunate for Italian Jews (as well as all Italians), since most lived in the northern regions. SS troops, along with the most zealous of Mussolini's supporters, began rounding up Jews in Rome, Milan, Genoa, Florence, Trieste, and other northern cities. Two internment camps were built and occasionally the Germans transferred Jews from these camps to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In total about 8,000 Jews were deported to the Nazi death camps during the occupation. About 95% of them perished there. The remaining 40,000 Jews in Italy survived because of the refusal of common Italians, as well as lower-level Italian government and military authorities, to cooperate with the Nazis both before and during Germany's brutal occupation. In many instances, Italians actively assisted Jews by obstructing or not cooperating with deportations, or helped them escape to unoccupied southern Italy. Eighty percent of Italian Jews survived the Holocaust, while elsewhere in Europe as many as 80% of Jews were murdered.

THE VATICAN AND THE CHURCH: CONTROVERSY AND INDIVIDUAL ACTION
The Vatican has a more troubling history when it comes to the Holocaust. As with Italy in general, it was often left to the actions of lower level Church officials and individuals to 'do the right thing.' Whether the Pope himself did enough is still debated today.

Prior to the war the Vatican seemed to start out on the right foot. In 1938, Pope Pius XI spoke out against Germany's racial dogma and the Italian government's willingness to follow in Hitler's footsteps. He was a forceful critic of Fascism and asserted one could not be both Catholic and Fascist. Pius XI died in 1939, six months before the beginning of WWII. Eugenio Pacelli, a close associate, succeeded him as Pius XII.

Pius XII's record on the Holocaust is complex and quite controversial. Many historians strongly criticize him for not saying or doing as much as he could have about the persecution of the Jews. Appeals from diplomats and local church officials to do something, were often met with insistence upon the importance of the Vatican maintaining its official neutrality. He was often publicly silent in the face of Nazi atrocities, particularly prior to 1942. Though he occasionally spoke out against oppression in general, Pius XII never spoke out publicly and specifically against persecution and murder of Jews even though it is certain he knew quite well what the Nazis were up to. He also never spoke out against a German roundup of Jews in Rome in October 1943, which literally could have been seen from the Vatican's windows.

This is not to say Pius XII did nothing. His defenders are equal in their vigor to support him, as his detractors are to condemn him. They say he did his best under quite difficult circumstances, and worked 'quietly behind the scenes' to save Jews, fearing that public opposition to the Nazis would only make things worse for the Jews. His defenders also give him credit for both the general resistance of Italians to Nazi persecution of Jews, as well as the noble actions of many Church officials to protect and give refuge to Jews. It is true that the Vatican sheltered about 470 Jews behind its walls following the German occupation, while another 4200 were protected in Roman monasteries and convents. After the war, the chief Rabbi in Rome as well as Italian Jewish communities heaped praise upon Pius XII for his support.

The most notable example of individual action by Church officials to save Jews occurred in Assisi. Shortly after the Germans began rounding up Italian Jews, Padre Ruffino Niccacci of the Damiano monastery was asked by his bishop to find homes and hiding places for more than 300 Jews just arrived from Trieste.

Padre Niccacci managed to have many of the refugees sheltered in buildings on the monastery grounds and dressed them as monks and nuns to hide their true identities during frequent Nazi searches. Others were placed in parishioners’ homes and blended into the community. Not a single refugee was captured while staying at Assisi. In 1979 Alexander Ramati along with Father Niccacci wrote "The Assisi Underground", a book about this remarkable episode in the Italian resistance. Unfortunately the book is out-of-print; however, it was made into a film of the same title in 1985. The film was shot on location in Assisi. So far I've not been able to find the film at the larger video rental stores. You might have better luck finding it at rental stores that place more emphasis on less well-known films, or at your local library.

SINCE WWII
Italy, along with Britain, Sweden and Germany, observed the first annual Holocaust Memorial Day on 28 January 2001, the 56th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

Primo Levi is perhaps the most famous Italian Jew associated with the Holocaust. The well-known author, who was also a chemist, was sent to Auschwitz and survived only because he contracted scarlet fever shortly before the Germans abandoned the camp in the face of advancing Allied troops. Levi was left for dead by the fleeing Nazis but survived and went on to write several remarkable books, all of which were informed by his extraordinary experiences in the most notorious of Nazi death camps. "Survival in Auschwitz" is the book that most directly touches on his experiences. Sadly, Levi died in a fall 11 April 1987. His death certificate recorded his passing as a suicide though it is not at all clear whether that was his intent.

For further reading on Italy and the Holocaust:

"Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy", Susan Zuccotti, ISBN 0-300-09310-1, $16.95 (paperback)

any book by Primo Levi; "Survival In Auschwitz" deals most directly with his Holocaust experience. ISBN 0-684-82680-1, $12.00 (paperback)

Michael Sigmon Fallai wrote the above article for the Center for Italian Culture in Phoenix, Arizona. He has worked as a producer, director and line producer for many well-known broadcast and corporate clients such as CNN, ESPN, Entertainment Tonight, the NBA Phoenix Suns and Motorola. He began working in digital video in 1998 and shortly thereafter discovered QuickTime VR. Mr. Sigmon Fallai has shot QuickTime VR panoramas in Arizona, Italy and Switzerland and his work can be viewed online at www.30fps.com. He is currently developing a VR tour of the Boboli Gardens in Florence, Italy and writes a regular column on QuickTime for the Arizona Macintosh Users Group's newsletter. Mr. Sigmon Fallai is a citizen of both the US and Italy, speaks both English and Italian fluently, and travels often between the two countries. He can be contacted at video@30fps.com.

Comments:
- The story of Italy and the Holocaust is a complex one indeed. I suggest you read, "For Love and Country: The Italian Resistance" by Patrick J.Gallo.
PGallo7106@aol.com on 2003-08-05 22:34:51

- Patrick J. Gallo has released a new book, "Pius XII, The Holocaust and The Revisionists" (Mc Farland Pub)