Symposium on Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust in Italy

The articles published in this section of JMIS were given at a symposium held early in 2001 on the role of Pope Pius XII in the rescue of Jews in Italy during the Holocaust. The discussion focuses on recent books on the subject by Susan Zuccotti and Ronald J. Rychlak. In the articles published here the authors and the panelists discuss the historical record (sources, facts and interpretations) and the nature of the obligations of the Papacy and the Catholic Church in the circumstances of the Second World War and the German occupation of Italy after the fall of Fascism.     

Public vices,private remedies in nineteenth-century Italy: Giulia Falletti di Barolo Colbert and Le Forzate

In nineteenth-century Italy notions of femininity and, no less, masculinity influenced the ways in which crime was viewed. The result was that criminality was perceived, judged and explained differently according to the sex of the offender. At every stage in the penal process, cultural understandings of what women were like, and how they ought to behave, operated to define the appropriate response to their misconduct and to structure their punishment. These 'gendered' aspects of criminal justice have influenced the practices of prosecution and sentencing, and, most clearly of all, the special regimes and attitudes adopted in women's prisons: throughout the century male prison regimes emphasized discipline and deterrence, while female prisons developed individualized programmes of 'moral regeneration'. This article deals with the history of the first prison destined exclusively for women - which was opened in Turin in 1821 - with the circumstances which brought about its creation as well as with its organizational structure and its aims. Its promoter - both in money and in spirit - was a woman, named Giulia Falletti di Barolo Colbert. Giving special consideration to the ideals of its foundress, this article examines how nineteenth-century perceptions of the female criminal differentiated the nature and purpose of penal servitude for women.     

New models,new questions: historiographical approaches to the Romanian Holocaust

This essay surveys the historiography on the Romanian Holocaust, focusing in particular on four monographs published by Western historians within the past five years. Earlier research was limited both empirically and theoretically, and these works suggest new research paradigms and raise new questions about the genocide in Romania during the Second World War. Dennis Deletant assesses the rule of General Ion Antonescu in light of his responsibility for the Holocaust and attempts to explain why the General began and ended the Holocaust when he did. Vladimir Solonari argues that the Holocaust should be read in the context of plans for ethnic homogenisation which were implemented when the opportunity presented itself in 1941. Jean Ancel examines the expropriation of Jewish property and shows that, among other things, the Romanian perpetrators were motivated by a desire to enrich themselves at the expense of the Jews. Finally, Armin Heinen reads the Holocaust by looking at how different groups of perpetrators used violence and attempts to recreate the logic that shaped their actions. In addition, the essay discusses Holocaust denial, survivor memoirs and the state of primary-source collections on the Romanian Holocaust.     

The Continuum of Brutality: Wehrmacht Security Divisions in Central Russia, 1942

The complicity of the Wehrmacht as an institution in the crimesof the Third Reich, and its participation in that régime'swar of extermination, are matters of historical record. Yetconduct and motivation amongst lower-level units are only recentlyreceiving extensive attention. It is a picture which, whilstfar from exculpatory, is nuanced and complex. This paper examinesconduct and motivation, during 1942, within one of the Wehrmachtsecurity divisions involved in one of the war of extermination'smost destructive aspects, the anti-partisan campaign in theSoviet Union. This campaign was directed far more against civilians,through such measures as massive reprisals and largescale operationsoften immensely destructive of lives and property, than againstactual partisans. That said, multiple influences, includingideological and military doctrine, physical conditions and officers'individual perceptions, shaped actual conduct, and conduct itselfranged from ruthless brutality to measures encouraging popularnative support and partisan desertion. One of the paper's keypoints is that the physical pressures of anti-partisan warfare—inhospitableterrain, insufficient security forces and a ruthless, unseenenemy—did not always translate, as past research has oftenargued, into brutality. In certain circumstances, they compelledsome units to pursue conciliatory policies even more rigorously.     

The Modern State,the Question of Genocide,and Holocaust Scholarship

This review article asks: what defines mass violence in the twentieth century as particularly modern and how does the Holocaust figure in this history? The article compares the work of two path-breaking historians—Mark Levene and Timothy Snyder—while also discussing recent research by other scholars. It argues that the emergence of nation-states, together with technology and scientific knowledge to alter the environment, created the conditions for distinctly modern violence aiming to destroy diversity in societies and the environment. The article examines the relation between genocide, including the Holocaust, and the rise of twentieth-century nation-states. It follows the persistent idea that the Holocaust is unique in a way that establishes a hierarchy of Holocaust/genocide/other mass violence. As Levene argues, the contextualization of the complex set of events and processes called the Holocaust within the violent history of ethno-national and ethno-religious “homogenization” of nation-states challenges this framework. The article then turns to Snyder’s argument that, since Hitler’s worldview of racial struggle over land and food rejected agricultural science, genetic engineering in agriculture is one way to heed the Holocaust’s warning. A discussion of the devastating impact of genetic engineering in agriculture—in the frame of the violent implications of modern “development”—underscores how the destruction of societies perceived as “backward,” particularly indigenous groups in the Global South, follows the destruction of their biodiverse habitats and agriculture to make way for monoculture genetically engineered crops. A focus on case studies of such mass violence and the responses by indigenous groups facilitates, finally, a discussion of the recent turn to microhistories in Holocaust scholarship. These offer another contextualized view: of the societies that faced the assault of nation-states. The article concludes that the complexities on the social level, each rooted in specific circumstances and histories, challenge the analytical value of the general term “Holocaust.”     

Shame, Guilt, and Anguish in Holocaust Survivor Testimony

This article examines how Holocaust survivors interpret themeaning of specific "iconic," all-absorbing memories that seldomfind their way into the survivors' public account of their Holocaustexperience. Utilizing the idea of public and private space, and personaland corporate pain as heuristic tools, I examine how survivorsorganize experience. In the final section, I argue that survivorslive with countervailing pressures: the struggle to forget andremain silent and the need to tell and to memorialize. Oraltestimony's communal, didactic, and therapeutic nature makeit a unique platform for these conflicting forces to work themselvesout by transforming narratives of suffering into narrativesof witnessing.     

Vichy and the Complexities of Collaborating with Fascist Italy: French Policy and Perceptions between June 1940 and March 1942

This article seeks to explore the complex nature of Vichy France's dealings with Fascist Italy between June 1940 and March 1942. At the heart of the inquiry is a seemingly remarkable volte-face by the two governments. The Italian declaration of war in June 1940 was viewed by many in France as an act of betrayal. By December 1941, however, Vichy and Fascist Italy were engaged in secret military collaboration. The first section focuses upon the period after the outbreak of war, seeking to establish the precise character and parameters of the relationship. The second section examines the reasons for the transformation, analysing Vichy's negotiations with Italy and Germany between May 1941 and March 1942. It suggests that the shift in Vichy's approach was in large part motivated by a belief that the weakness of Italy would compel it to make concessions on a scale that the Nazi government would never even consider. Historians of Vichy have often downplayed the significance of Fascist Italy yet, like Nazi Germany, Italy posed a substantial threat to the integrity and sovereignty of France and its colonial empire. Vichy's policy of collaboration was therefore conceived in trilateral rather than bilateral terms.

Cet article cherche à examiner la nature complexe des relations entre la France de Vichy et l'Italie fasciste de juin 1940 à mars 1942. Au centre de cette enquête se trouve la volte-face apparemment remarquable des deux gouvernements. La déclaration de guerre par l'Italie en juin 1940 fut considérée par un grand nombre de Français comme un acte de trahison. Cependant, en décembre 1941, Vichy et l'Italie fasciste s'engagèrent dans la collaboration militaire secrète. La première partie se concentre sur la période après le début de la guerre, et essaie d'établir quels sont la nature précise et les paramètres des relations entre Vichy et l'Italie. La seconde partie examine les causes de cette transformation en analysant les négociations entre Vichy, l'Italie et l'Allemagne entre mai 1941 et mars 1942. L'auteur suggère que le changement dans l'approche de Vichy était en grande partie motivé par la conviction que la faiblesse de l'Italie la forcerait à faire des concessions d'une ampleur telle que le gouvernement nazi n'aurait jamais même envisagé. Les historiens de Vichy ont souvent minimisé l'importance de l'Italie fasciste, mais contrairement à l'Allemagne nazie, l'Italie constitua une menace importante pour l'intégrité et la souveraineté de la France et de son empire colonial. La politique de collaboration de Vichy était donc conçue en termes trilatéraux et non bilatéraux.     

The Holocaust in Italian Collective Memory: Il giorno della memoria , 27 January 2001

The article examines the first official, national Holocaust memorial day in Italy, the so-called Giorno della memoria (Day of memory), marked on the 56th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2001. It looks at the ways in which the day acted as a filter for issues of national collective memory and identity, in particular state and public negotiation of the legacy of Fascism, as well as addressing broader issues of Holocaust remembrance. The article looks first at the origins of the Giorno della memoria in political and in legislative terms. Then it sketches in the events of the day itself, at national and local levels, in political, educational and cultural terms. This is followed by an analysis of media coverage and contemporary commentary, showing how various lines of interpretation addressed general issues related to the Holocaust and specifically Italian historical, ideological and contemporary questions.     

A Shift‐Share Method for the Analysis of Regional Fertility Change: An Application to the Decline in Childbearing in Italy, 1952–1991

This paper applies shift‐share analysis, a tool often used in economic geography and regional science, to regional fertility change in Italy, 1952–1991. During this post–World War II period, Italian fertility declined by over 33 percent, but the decline varied widely from region to region. Moreover, the demographic originations of the decline in births are not fully understood. Using birth data for nineteen Italian regions, this analysis is able to break regional change in births into three main components: a national effect, a cohort effect, and a regional differential effect, which in turn provide insight into the roots of fertility change at the regional level. These three components of change are then further disaggregated to account for the differences between changes due to population change and those related to actual changes in birth rates (the number of children produced by each woman). Strong regional differences between the north and south of Italy are demonstrated.     

The Cyprus question, 1949-1952: British attitude,American reactions and Greek dilemmas

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to construe the position of Britain and the US as well as Greek reactions with regard to the Cyprus question at a stage which preceded its internationalisation and the concurrent deterioration of Anglo-Greek and Greek-Turkish relations. There is a voluminous bibliography on the problem, which has developed into one of the major international entanglements of our time. Most works on the Cyprus question, in the form of either general scholarly works or memoirs, devote very little space to the 1949-1952 period – when they do not overlook it entirely. A notable exception is Angelos Vlachos' Deka hronia Kypriako (Ten Years of Cyprus Question) which mainly examines the attitude of the Greek government and the Greek-Cypriot Ethnarchy towards the question of Enosis. Francois Crouzet's Le Conflict de Chypre, 1946-1959, on the other hand, published in 1973, offers a rather limited insight of the question at its early stage given the absence of relevant primary sources at that time. The present paper, however, is primarily based on British and American diplomatic records. Whereas, though, the relevant British Cabinet and Foreign Office documents are in their vast majority open to research, a great number of US State Department documents on Cyprus remained classified in early 1987, when this research was conducted. To be specific, for 1950, one classified document corresponded to two declassified, while for the following year the ratio increased to three against two, with an even number of classified and declassified papers for 1952. Yet, the author believes that a fairly precise picture of British and American attitudes on the question can be drawn on the basis of the material available. Greek reactions are also examined and interpreted to the extent that British and American diplomatic records as well as Greek secondary sources permit.