With Italy’s new anti-Semitic policies being pushed relentlessly in the press and over the radio, some Jewish circles are laying great hopes in the forthcoming visit to Rome of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
In the course of a survey of the situation, a special J.T.A. correspondent found these circles believing that the British statesman would discuss the Jewish problem with Premier Benito Mussolini, particularly the problem of the 15,000 foreign Jews who are under compulsion to leave Italy before March 12. A majority of these — forming approximately one fourth of the entire Italian Jewish population– have nowhere to go since the doors of their native countries, Poland and Germany, have been barred to them.
The American and British embassies are studying the problem of the deportees and Mr. Chamberlain will be presented with the facts by lord Perth, British Ambassador.
Meanwhile, the anti-Semitic press and radio campaign is meeting with indifference and even disapproval on the part of the majority of Italians, although effects of the campaign are noticeable in the provinces. Signs reading, “Jews not wanted here” have appeared before a number of cafes and restaurants in provincial cities, with the encouragement of local Fascist leaders and the press. Jews are no longer admitted to cinemas in Ancona, while all Jews have been expelled from literary societies in Venice.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
