Crown Prince Umberto and a wounded Jewish lieutenant just returned from Spain were the chief figures today in a dramatic incident that afforded barbed commentary on Italy’s new racial legislation.
Reviewing Italian wounded as they were being disembarked from a ship at Naples, Umberto unintentionally picked from the ranks Lieut. Bruno Fernari, a Jew, extended a special greeting and posed with him for a picture of the ceremonies.
Lieut. Fernari, 27, gave up engineering four years ago to join the Italian army. He suffered a leg wound during the Christmas fighting in Spain and was decorated twice for bravery. He also received a gold medal for horsemanship.
A few Jewish volunteers still remain with the Italian forces in Spain. Most of those who were sent back returned to find that they were no longer considered Italians but Jews, with the jobs they left to serve their country now barred to them because of the anti-Jewish laws passed in their absence. A disproportionately high percentage of Jewish volunteers were decorated and many were wounded in the last three months of the Spanish civil war.
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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.
