Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Jews in Italy Forbidden to Use Telephones; Nazis Say Italian Jews “treated Mildly”

June 16, 1943
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

An order forbidding Jews in Italy to use telephones has been issued by the Italian authorities, the Nazi Transocean news agency reported today from Rome. The order follows the recent decree ordering all Jews in Italy to surrender their radios to the local police.

Transocean, expressing the Nazi viewpoint, complains that the Jews in Italy are treated too mildly. “Fundamentally,” the Rome correspondent of the agency writes, “no anti-Jewish tendency exists in Italy.” He reviews the situation of the Jews and points out that certain categories of Jews are still exempt from racial laws. Among those exempt, he says, are Jewish soldiers who fought at the front, Jewish members of the Fiume Legion, Jews who were members of the Fascist Party before 1922 and Jews who “made sacrifices for fascism.”

“Stricter anti-Jewish regulations,” the Nazi correspondent continues, “were introduced after Italy entered the war. Jews were then climinated from trading in foodstuffs and in rationed commodities, they were forbidden to employ servants and have been placed at compulsory public work. Jews were ordered not to employ servants in their homes because they used to pay ‘ exorbitant wages,’ ” the Rome report added.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement