Language:
English
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of Modern Italian Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
24,1 (2019) 63-78
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Sources
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
World War, 1939-1945 Deportations from France
;
France, Southeast
;
Vichy (France)
Abstract:
This article discusses the use of Nazi sources for the study of Fascist Italy's policy towards Jews in 1940-1943. By exposing the gap between the Nazi perception of and the reality of the Fascist policy towards Jews in Italian-occupied south-eastern France, the article demonstrates that Rome's refusal to hand over Jews for deportation did not contradict the fundamental antisemitic nature of its Jewish policy in that context. Thus, the article highlights the risks for historians to read the Fascist Jewish policy through Nazi lenses and thereby fall prey to stereotypical characterizations of the Italians as insubordinate, scheming and driven by what an SS official disparagingly labelled a "Jewish-friendly attitude". At the same time, the article shows that, when combined with Fascist sources, Nazi sources can help shed light on the conceptual divide that underpinned the Axis partners' disagreement over the means by which the "Jewish problem" should be "solved", thereby exposing the analytical limitations of the current prevailing understanding of the Fascist refusal to hand over the Jews as purely the outcome of "pragmatic" opportunistic considerations.
DOI:
10.1080/1354571X.2019.1550699
URL:
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