Concentration Camps in Italy?

[Bengalzona]

(12-26-2017, 04:30 PM)Dill Wrote: I can answer that question with a bit of historical background, BFritz.

1. Anti-semitism was/is unevenly distributed in Europe. In occupied Denmark, for example, Danes actively worked to protect Jews. When Nazis ordered Jews wear the yellow armband with a Star of David, millions of Danes, from the King down, donned them to show solidarity.  In Eastern Europe, antisemitism was worse than in Germany. When the Nazis invaded Lithuania, the civilian population helped Nazis hunt down their "real enemy," the Jews.  Civilians dragged Jewish families from their homes, robbed the homes, raped the women, and turned them all over to the SS. Italy was closer to Denmark on this spectrum, with the 3rd highest rate of survival for Jews in Europe.

2. Racism came late to Italian Fascism. In 1932, Mussolini (with Giovanni Gentile) wrote up comprehensive manifesto of Fascism which mentions race not at all.  By the mid 30s, some Italian fascists were aping the Nazis by researching an ideal "Mediterranean" racial type, but the government was little invested in this until 1938, when it finally promulgated a set of racial laws which banned Jews from public office. While Italian nationalists were big on being ITALIANS they had little interest in thinking of themselves as a special race.

3. As an ally of Germany, Italy was a sovereign state, in control of its own territory and policies.  There was no effective roundup of Jews under the Italian government, pre-1943. In fact, Italy "unofficailly" took in many refugees from Germany. After the abovementioned racial laws of '38, the government finally began to enrich itself --Nazi-style--by impounding property of Jews. But then mostly "lost" the Jewish owners, who were locally protected. (This is not to say that some weren't fingered by zealous anti-semties; just that there was minimal civilian cooperation.) That only changed in 1943, when the Allies invaded Italy. The Italian government collapsed and Hitler sent in troops to set up the Republic of Salo under Mussolini.  Once Hitler had direct control of Italian territory, then active deportation of Italian Jewry began.

So no one has interest in saving Mussolini's name from disgrace except right wing Italian politicians. It is just that he was never effectively behind the ethnic cleansing. It was not until Hitler took over Italy that serious deportations began, so the blame still lies with Hitler.

You mentioned the Vichy regime too. That was a puppet government under Nazi control.

Excellent post!