Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Yad Vashem Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
48,1-2 (2020) 137-172
Keywords:
United States.
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Archival resources
;
World War, 1939-1945 Deportations from Italy
Abstract:
Based on a group of OSS (Office of Strategic Studies) documents deposited at NARA (National Archives and Record Groups), the article traces the procedure of the decision and preparation of the raid on the Roman Jews on October 16, 1943.In the last week of September, Herbert Kappler, head of the German police in Rome, received from Berlin the notice of forthcoming anti-Jewish actions. This had been entrusted to another officer, SS Captain Dannecker, who had been sent from Berlin. The notice referred to the raids on the Jews that should take place throughout the territory under German influence, including Rome. Before the raid, on September 26, 1943, Kappler demanded from the Jews a ransom of 50 kilos of gold, even though he was well aware that their arrest would take place shortly thereafter. This, therefore, was an act of extortion and not a diversionary action for their benefit as he claimed in his postwar statements.The anti-Jewish actions were not supposed to start from Rome, but from Naples, which was at the time the southern border of the territory under German influence. This had been planned for October 1, 1943. However, it became impossible as a result of the withdrawal of the German army from southern Italy during those very days. The Gestapo's plan was to send Dannecker to Italy in order to carry out surprise raids in all the big cities and to organize deportations directly from those locations. After Rome, he raided Florence, Siena, Montecatini, Bologna, Genoa, the Ligurian Riviera di Ponente, Turin, and Milan. The author insists on this point because contemporary, and even subsequent, rumors credited an intervention on the part of the Vatican for obtaining a promise that other raids would no longer be conducted in Rome. The departure of Dannecker’s SS detachment from Rome North was the continuation of a pre-established program and not the effect of any external intervention. Preparations for the anti-Jewish action in Rome had been long and laborious. Kappler's men and Dannecker's men collaborated, but so did the Italian authorities, who provided the lists of Jews residing in Rome and their addresses.
Note:
In English and Hebrew.
URL:
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