Introduction

The Italian Holocaust is not an often-explored component of World War II. The Holocaust is looked at as a giant violation of human rights, with barbarous human acts that were horrific and unexpected.

However, a closer look at history can reveal that the prevalent anti-Semitism that took place in Europe before the Holocaust led up to the horrors of the Holocaust. During this time, anti-Semitism was seen differently in Italy; therefore, the response to anti-Semitic laws and the Holocaust within Italy were vastly different than the responses in other parts of Europe. Even when the Italian government made attempts to instill anti-Semitic racism in the Italian populous, it failed.

Another important point to study is Mussolini's choices as the leader of the Fascist party in Italy. While he himself did have anti-Semitic tendencies, he did not instate anti-Semitic laws during his first years in office. The reasons why are both complex and interesting, and it lays the ground work for understanding the reason why more non-Jewish Italians died in the Italian Holocaust than Jewish Italians.

Before reading the articles, it is important to have an understanding of World War II history. On the Recommended Reading page, there are references for information on the Jewish religion, extended Jewish-Italian history, and World War II.

Kylie McCormick wrote this page September - December 2006 in conjuction with World Politics class. This page is meant to present various ideas and components of the Italian Holocaust and bring to light various events that often go unnoted when studying World War II.

There is also a printer-friendly version of this web site (without graphics) in Microsoft Word Format.

© Kylie McCormick, Mount Holyoke College 2008.