A very interesting batch of documents on discrimination after the 1938 Racial Laws against Jews

A very interesting batch of documents on discrimination after the 1938 Racial Laws against Jews

The attached documentation begins with the date August 13, 1938, year XVII of the Fascist Party (FE), with an internal communication from the Secretary of the National Fascist Party of Turin to the Federal Secretary of the PNF in Trofarello (Turin).

In this letter, the Secretary communicates that Mr. Giuseppe Ottolenghi had requested the possibility of discriminating against parents in the state measure on the purge of Jews. On August 31, 1938, the Secretary of the Fascist Party announced that Ottolenghi, of Jewish origin, had resigned from the PNF. On September 20, 1938, the Secretary of the Fascist Party of Turin wrote to Ottolenghi, thanking him for his resignation from the National Fascist Party of Turin (Ottolenghi had been a fascist from the beginning), and also thanking him for the valuable service he rendered during his years of militancy. On December 16, 1938, the Secretary of the Fascist Party of Turin wrote to the Secretary of the Fascist Combat Group of Trofarello (the Ottolenghis' hometown) stating that the Ottolenghi brothers (Carlo Alberto and Giacomo Emilio) had their PNF membership cards and badges confiscated because they were Jewish.

In response to this letter, the Secretary of the Fascist Party wrote to the Ottolenghis on December 18, 1938, inviting them to report to the headquarters to return their membership cards and badges.

From December 28, 1938, there are copies of letters sent by the Secretary of the Fascist Party of Trofarello (Cattaneo) to the Federal Inspectorate of the XXVII Zone of Turin. In these letters, Ottolenghi openly declares his services to the Fatherland, as a combatant during the First World War (in a weapons platoon) and as a member of the Action Squads from 1921 to 1922, thus a Fascist from the very beginning. He also mentions his parents, who deserved discrimination because, although both deceased, they had dedicated themselves to charitable work and social progress.

This documentation is interesting because, although the provisions of the racial laws were enforced, fascism actually found an Italian-style solution, granting Jews the opportunity to survive the racial laws in various ways. Among the most common reasons were having fought in the First World War, having been members of the Fascist Party since 1919, having participated in the March on Rome (about 700 Jews participated in the March on Rome), etc.

Despite suspending Jewish professors from state universities—Ottolenghi, for example, was a professor of medicine—the fascist regime allowed Jews to have primary and secondary schools. If Jewish students in a given area were not numerous enough to have their own school, they could still attend state schools... at least until 1943, then with the presence of German troops, things got worse.