Italian Fascism: Decentering Standard Assumptions about Antisemitism and Totalitarianism
Italian fascism lasted nearly twice as long as German fascism and, in contrast, neither racism nor antisemitism played a major role in its formation or ideology. Jews were well-integrated into Italian life, and Italy even viewed Nazis with suspicion as late as the mid-1930s. In 1938, however, the si...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Indiana University Press
2022
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| In: |
The betrayal of the humanities
Year: 2022, Pages: 522-544 |
| Further subjects: | B
National Socialism
B Holocaust B Shoah B Fascism B The Humanities B Italian Fascism B Antisemitism B Mussolini, Benito B History 1933-1945 B University B Third Reich B Italy B Germany |
| Summary: | Italian fascism lasted nearly twice as long as German fascism and, in contrast, neither racism nor antisemitism played a major role in its formation or ideology. Jews were well-integrated into Italian life, and Italy even viewed Nazis with suspicion as late as the mid-1930s. In 1938, however, the situation for Italian Jews changed drastically, when Mussolini launched a campaign against them. Adler argues that this sudden shift in attitude toward the Jews can be traced to a legitimation crisis that followed failed economic and social reforms. His analysis explores the cultural contradictions within Italian fascism. By equating Jews with a decadent bourgeois class at odds with the cultural revolution, Italy simultaneously strengthened a new alliance with Germany and gave Italians a convenient “other” to set in opposition to the fascist “New Man.” Although the anti-Jewish campaign of 1938 caused many Italian Jews to flee the country, it was not accompanied by pogroms or concentration camps; it was couched in terms of “discrimination not persecution.” |
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| ISBN: | 0253060796 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The betrayal of the humanities
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