The Persecution of Jews in Italy

Opening January 30
5:30pm		 Exhibit hours January 30 - March 1, 2008
Thurs - Sat, 5pm - 8pm

In 1938 a series of anti-Semitic measures were ratified under the Fascist rule of Benito Mussolini. This moment marked the beginning of state-condoned persecution of Jews in Italy in the twentieth century. This exhibit investigates the experiences of Italian Jews during the years between 1938 and the liberation of Italy in 1945 through the reproduction and examination of primary documents from the period.
The exhibit was originally created by the Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC) in Milan. It is presented here in English for the first time—the result of a collaboration between the CDEC and Syracuse University in Florence (SUF). In the fall of 2007 SUF students translated the exhibit’s texts into English in their Italian classes, as part of a study of Fascist Italy and the Second World War.
SUF is proud to open this exhibit to the public as part of its third annual commemoration of the Holocaust. January 27 was designated European Holocaust Memorial Day by the European Parliament on January 27, 2005, and SUF has adhered to this resolution since its inception. This year’s project—the translation and exhibition of the present show—makes the information on the fate of Italian Jews in the Fascist period available to a wider audience, which is a direct answer to the European Parliament’s urging to educate on the Holocaust in order to prevent future genocide.