Albhea 2nd Blog Post (Jan 26th)

Our reading for the 26th of January was about the execution of Jews in Italy, The Italian Executioners. Before starting this reading, the only knowledge that I had about the role of Italians in the Holocaust was that they were involved in it from my European history class in high school. This really opened my eyes to the contributors to the event and how fascism was engrained to daily life; as well as the multiple steps taken and the subtleties of the actions of people in politics. One thing that stood out to me was the dehumanization and the antagonization of the Jews. A few instances of the words used that were pointed out in the book are “disease of humanity”, “danger”, “foreigners”, “evil”, and that “divine punishment” awaited the Jews. These are constantly what people see and hear every day, especially from people who have a strong influence: this reading touches on three people, Giovanni Preziosi (ideologist, bureaucrat), Giovanni Martelloni (‘writer’), and Giocondo Protti (radiologist, doctor). Daily newspapers, books, and lectures were filled with antisemitic views. They were compared with cancer as the “monstrosity” that invades mankind. By painting the Jews as a disease and labeling themselves as the “healthy flesh” (pg. 20), this changes the way the people think of their fellow human beings. With it combined with science, with something that could’ve been perceived as fact-based, and with religion, “they had remained far from Christ” (pg 20). Combining it with these elements made it easier to integrate Italians into the community. This is similar to what we observed from the WWII prison the next day (Jan 27th), where we were shown the cells that prisoners were kept in. One room was filled with Italian newspapers about decrees, statements, recruitments, and even a poster offering a reward. Another room also contained a picture (not shown) that portrayed Jews as a danger to the baby, which represented the Italians. The last room we went into, which had cases that talked about the progression of the Jews’ persecution, the first one containing the racial laws imposed on the people in multiple newspapers (bottom right). These photos show a glimpse of what people would have been seeing daily.