(8 January, 2016) “In the face of phenomena such as racism and anti-Semitism, we must have the courage to admit that that moralistic choices are ineffective just as emotional refusal,” writes historian Renzo De Felice, author of the book “History of Italian Jews under Fascism.” The volume will be presented Thursday, January 28 (at 6pm) at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (25 West 43rd St, 17th Floor) New York for Remembrance Day. The meeting was organized by the Calandra Institute in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, the Consulate General of Italy, the Centro Primo Levi, and the NYU Italian House Zerilli Marimo – Italian Academy. The anti-Semitic persecution unleashed in 1938 by Mussolini was one of the most significant milestones in the history of fascism. With it, the regime publicly divorced the Italian people, its mentality and its history. De Felice set out to investigate in this volume the intimate nature of the relationship between Judaism and fascism by scrupulously examining the archival documents, testimonies, letters and correspondence. Speakers at the presentation of the historical essay include Frank Adler (Macalester College), Stanislao Pugliese (Hofstra University), Alexander Stille (Columbia University), Guri Schwarz (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa), and Ernest Ialongo (Hostos Community College). (Red)
De Felice’s essay on Jews during Fascist Italy unveiled during International Holocaust Remembrance Day
