Hate Literature Flooding Bookstores Italian Jewry Alarmed over Anti-semitic Campaign by Neo-fascists

At least 100 anti-Semitic books and other publications are flooding Italian book stores in a new wave of anti-Semitism that is causing serious concern among Italian Jewry. The problem was discussed at a meeting in Bologna Sunday, attended by representatives of the World Jewish Congress, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and various Italian civil rights and political organizations.

According to disclosures at the meeting, many of the anti-Semitic tracts are written or edited by Catholic ideologues–a fact that assumes special significance in light of the Vatican Council II specific injunction against all forms of anti-Semitism. Another focus of anti-Semitic activity in Italy, according to the Bologna conferees are the extreme right-wing and neo-Fascist groups and parties that have proliferated in Italy recently.

Anti-Semitic books cited at Bologna include ten authored by Julius Evola, the theoretician of the neo-Fascist “Ordine Nuovo” (New Order) organization founded by Pino Rauti who was recently elected to the Italian Parliament. Other publications in the same vein include the 19th century forgery, “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” Hitler’s autobiography, “Mein Kampf” and works by Gunther, Codrenau, Coston and Ford. The book “Bagatelles for a Massacre” by the late French author Ferdinand Celine, an anti-Semite and Nazi collaborator, has recently been republished in Italian edition.

A leaflet signed “DDD,” the initials of the “Italian Defense” a Fascist organization, is currently circulating. It calls on Italians to “Liberate ourselves from these thieves” and warns that “The theft and terrorism of Jews is conquering Italy.” The leaflet claims that Jews in Italy derive their power from “Mafia, economic power and terrorism,” and want to “transform Italy into a battle-field for their own goals and interests.”