Sprache:
Englisch
Erscheinungsjahr:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
Studia Hebraica
Angaben zur Quelle:
7 (2007) 99-122
Schlagwort(e):
Mussolini, Benito,
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Kurzfassung:
A paper presented at the 12th annual ASN convention at Columbia University, April 2007. Contrary to Tony Judt's view, as expressed in his "Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945" (2005), argues that there is no distinct borderline between history and memory, and even historians are not immune to memory. To illustrate this, discusses the controversy over whether antisemitism was an inborn or acquired trait of Italian fascism, whether it was sincere or opportunistic, and what was the degree of Mussolini's responsibility for the death of thousands of Italian Jews in the Holocaust. Mussolini's record on antisemitism and racism is highly ambivalent, as is that of Italy as a whole. Any analysis of the fascist government's relations with the Jews, both before and after the alliance with Germany, is likely to be influenced by the identity of its author. If, in a counterfactual scenario, Mussolini were to face an international tribunal, his verdict on the charge of the decimation of Jews would depend on the "witnesses": the non-Jewish political scientist James Gregor would be a witness for the defense, while the Jewish historian Meir Michaelis would be a witness for the prosecution.
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