Rome Jews Repulse Fascist Gangs in First ‘invasion’ in Years

Rome’s Jewish quarter was attacked by fascist hoodlums this week-end–the first such attack in years–and the angered Jews promptly beat back the hooligans, beating many of them and overturning their automobiles.

Police, who came to the aid of the Jewish self-defense fighters, arrested two of the fascist attackers. Two Jews were injured in the fighting, and several of the invaders were also hurt.

The attack came as the culmination of an election rally held by the Movimento Sociale Italiano, a neo-fascist group. Singing fascist hymns, gangs of hoodlums invaded the district where most of Rome’s Jews live, shouting “Death to the Jews.”

Jews went into action immediately, counter-attacking the fascists. Police reserves soon arrived to back up the defenders, and the fascists were routed.

During the night, however, after the police patrols had retired, other fascists threw paint on a memorial commemorating the martyrdom of the Jews exterminated in the Ardeatine Cave massacres. Among the flowers adorning the memorial, the fascists planted a bludgeon, symbol of violence. When police came to remove the bludgeon and the paint splattered flowers, new fights broke out.

A warning that the Jews of Rome might take reprisals in the event of further attacks was issued yesterday by Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff. The warning came after the Chief Rabbi had met in an emergency session with the Rome Jewish Community Council and representatives of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities.

“Our patience has limits,” the Chief Rabbi declared. “It is hard to restrain all initiative of the Jewish population which wants to react to fascist provocations.”

The Chief Rabbi described the assaults as “frightening,” declaring that it was with “sadness” that the Jews of Rome “have heard again the cries of ‘Viva il Duce’ and ‘Death to the Jews.” In his statement, Rabbi Toaff noted that many 15-year-old boys had participated in the attacks.

A resolution adopted unanimously at the emergency meeting denounced the “vandalistic action by cowardly descendants of yesterday’s butchers.” The resolution thanked the city police and the Italian political parties and organizations which had sent messages complimenting the Jewish population for “the prompt defense of its dignity and its sacred memories.”

The desecration of the memorial to the victims of the Ardeatine Cave massacres has aroused the emotions of many of the Jews living in the district that suffered the attack. The Jewish population and members of partisan brigades, as well as representatives of various political parties, had brought thousands of flowers to commemorate the martyrdom of the Jewish victims in the Caves. After the fascist attacks, two anonymous letters were found near a synagogue. One of the letters contained threats against the synagogue and against the Jewish population. The other declared “Auschwitz Needs a Rabbi.”

The political division of the Rome Police Department announced today that some of the attackers had been identified and that the results of the police investigation will be turned over to the judiciary authorities for possible prosecution. Newspapers throughout the country are printing full reports of the attacks and the Jewish self-defense actions, some of the publications devoting full pages to these reports.