| Title |
On myth making and nation building : the genesis of the "myth of the good Italian", 1943-1947. |
|---|---|
| Host Item |
Yad Vashem Studies 36,1 (2008) 111-143 |
| Description |
In post-fascist Italy great efforts were made to absolve Italy as a state and the Italian people of responsibility for the anti-Jewish legislation and politics of 1938-45. A myth was created according to which it was the Germans who imposed the racial legislation on Italy, while the Italians, excluding a few fascist fanatics, abhorred racism, sabotaged official anti-Jewish measures, and rescued Jews. According to the myth, antisemitism was alien to the deeply Christian and humanist Italian culture. No attempts were made to analyze the Italian anti-Jewish policies of the fascist period. Shows that, beside cultural figures and institutions, it was the government of post-fascist Italy, and above all the Foreign Ministry, which propagated this myth. In doing so, the Foreign Ministry pursued its own political goals, which included avoiding a punitive peace for Italy at the forthcoming peace conference. While playing a "Jewish card", the Foreign Ministry exaggerated the political influence exerted by Jewish bodies, inspired by the fascist-era myth of omnipotent Jewry. Postwar Italian Jewry, concerned with the reinstating of their rights and other problems, contributed no less to this myth. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) English and Hebrew. |
| Language |
English |
| Credits |
באדיבות יש ושם – רשות הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה Courtesy of Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center |
| National Library system number |
990004715430705171 |
| Links |
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries |
When using this material, please acknowledge the source of the material as follows:
באדיבות יש ושם – רשות הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה Courtesy of Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
MARC RECORDS
Have more information? Found a mistake?
