Mussolini and the Jews: German-Italian Relations and the Jewish Question in Italy, 1922-1945

Rating:
Summary: Well-argued
Review: Michaelis argues that full-fledged anti-semitism, as opposed toanti-semitic resentments, did not serve Mussolini's interests untilrelatively late in his career. It was only after he decided to establish an empire in Africa that he began to pay attention to racial "problems". One of the first racist acts of the fascist government was the warning, in October 1935, against intermarriage with Africans. Michaelis concludes: "That Italian Fascism arrived at some sort of racial doctrine independently of German influence is perfectly true; for the ban on miscegenation in Africa was decreed before the birth of the Axis. It is equally true, however, that this doctrine did not take on an anti-Jewish character until Italy became a pawn of the Reich." Although we should be careful not to overgeneralize from this study, it seems clear that in the Italian case, at least, anti-semitism was more the product of calculation than fervent hatred. END