Having banished all foreign Jews from Italy, the Italian Cabinet turned its fire upon native Jews today and, in a drastic five-point decree, banned them from teaching posts in all schools and universities and barred them as pupils in the primary and secondary schools.
An official communique said the Cabinet had adopted the decree pending final decision of the fascist grand Council, which will discuss the position of the Jews in the nation at its Oct. 1 session. Introduced by Education Minister Guiseppe Bottai as “concerning the defence of the race in italian schools,” the decree provides:
1–Jews are excluded from teaching in all primary and secondary schools and universities in Italy. The order is retroactive.
2–Pupils of the Jewish race are no longer to be admitted to primary and secondary schools in Italy.
3–Commencing Oct. 16, all Jewish professors, principals, directors, university assistants, supervisory personnel of elementary schools and private lecturers must cease their activities.
4–Jewish members of academies and institutions, scientific, literary and art associations must discontinue participating in activities of those bodies as of Oct. 16.
5–Jewish students who followed a course of instruction in Italian schools during the last academic year are temporarily authorized to attend universities.
As in yesterday’s decree, the new edict defines Jews as those whose father and mother are both of the Jewish race, regardless of their religious affiliation.
The Cabinet issued another decree permitting foreign Jewish students to continue their studies in Italian universities. It had been expected that such permission would not be granted. The cabinet also ordered the teaching of arabic in secondary schools.
When the Fascist Grand Council meets on Oct.1st it is expected to draft a “charter of race” defining the position of the Italian Jews in political, cultural and financial spheres of life.
Scores of German Jews besieged the German consulate seeking regularization of their passports in order to be able to leave Italy.
The press hailed the new measures, stressing that it was necessary to begin the anti-Jewish decrees in the education system because the school was destined to forge the new generations.
Giornale d’ltalia declared that despite the Evian refugee-aid conference, most states had closed instead of opening their doors to Jews. observing that 1,572 Austrian, German and Polish Jews had arrived in Milan between March and mid-July, coming at the rate of 15 daily, the paper said that the census of 1931 revealed that of the total of 6,371 Jews in Milan, 3,876 had maintained their foreign citizenship.
Corriere della Serra predicted that 5,000 foreign Jews would have to leave Milan Il Popolo d’ Italia, founded by Premier Mussolini, asserted that 60 per cent of the Jews in Italy were foreigners. Gazetta del Popolo reported that 200 foreign Jews would have to leave Turin, and added that there would be no persecution, confiscation or concentration camps.
Meanwhile the census of Jews in Italy neared its close, with the indication that the total Jewish population would be slightly more than 85,000. Up to today 84,000 names had been listed. Of these 84,000, about 20,000 have come to Italy since Jan.1st, 1919 and hence will have to leave the country within six months. Eight thousand of them were naturalized Italian citizens, but this will not affect their status.
Grave concern was voiced in banking, commercial and insurance circles over the effects of yesterday’s decree for expulsion of post-war Jewish immigrants. while numerically Jews form only a small part of those engaged in the three fields, they possess powerful influence.
The fate of Jews holding Nansen passports, which are no longer being issued, is not known. Since the Nansen office was liquidated last year, it is believed persons holding its passports will no longer be permitted to cross frontiers. Another unknown factor is what regulations will be adopted for withdrawal of capital by the expelled Jews.
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.
