Racism, war, atrocity, and its aftermath in Italy, 1938-2010

Event Date: Sunday 26 September 2010
Imperial War Museum, London


2010 is the 70th anniversary of Italy’s entry into the Second World War, a decision that set off a chain of events that culminated in two years of devastating warfare and a cruel occupation. German occupation led to the deportation of 7,800 Jews and fostered the conditions for civil war to develop in the north of the country. Partisan warfare and German defensive operations led to repeated atrocities against civilians. The full story of the mass killing of Italian civilians and the persecution of the Jews, which began in 1938, has only come to light in the last fifteen years due to the opening of once closed archives and a shift in the political spectrum that led to renewed interest in Fascist and German crimes. This conference will showcase the new research by Italian scholars working in the field and facilitate discussion with UK-based researchers.


Welcome – David Cesarani .

Fascism, racism and the Jews in Italy

Chair: MacGregor Knox (London School of Economics)

Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti (University of Pisa)
The Jews of Italy from emancipation to Fascism (AUDIO HERE)

Salvatore Garau (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Fascism, anti-semitism and the Italian Jews (AUDIO HERE)

questions .


Alessandro Visani (Rome University)
The racial laws 1938: reception and implementation (AUDIO HERE)

Ilaria Pavan (Scuola Normale, Pisa)
Social-economic impact of the fascist racial laws,1938-1945 (AUDIO HERE)

questions .


War, atrocity and its aftermath

Chair: David Cesarani (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Paolo Pezzino (University of Pisa)
Warfare and massacre, 1943-45 (AUDIO HERE)

Michele Battini (University of Pisa)
German war crimes and allied justice  (AUDIO HERE)

questions .


Guri Schwarz (University of Pisa)
Italian Jews and memory of the genocide (AUDIO HERE)

John Foot (University College London)
Italians and the divided memory of the war (AUDIO HERE)

questions .


The conference is organised by the Holocaust Research Centre, Royal Holloway University of London, in cooperation with the Imperial War Museum.
It has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the British Academy.

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