The vicissitudes of Italian and foreign Jews under Fascist rule have been the object of in depth studies but are still often presented as contradictory aspects of the same history.
Today, thanks to a broad range of interdisciplinary research we are able to present a more cohesive picture of those years.
Davide Rodogno and Donato Grosser will map the movements and fate of Jews residing in Italy and in Italian occupied territories between 1933-1945, examining the diverse levels of solidarity and persecution encountered. The conversation will have as points of departure the perspective of Italian civil and military authorities (Rodogno) and the work of Jewish relief organizations (Grosser). With the participation of Doris Schechter who was interned in Guardiagrele (Abruzzi) with her family.
Alessandro Cassin, Deputy director of Centro Primo Levi
Davide Rodogno is Associate Professor of History at the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies, Geneva. He is the author of Fascism’s European Empire, Cambridge University Press, 2006. His studies focus on transnational history of International Associations and International Non-Governmental Organizations since 1770. History of human rights and humanitarian law. Displacement and Replacement of populations in inter-war Europe. Comparative history of empires. The myth of the new man in Europe, Israel and the United States. Further details.
Donato Grosser, (b. 1946) is the son of Bernardo (Berl) Grosser and Vittoria (Rina) Grosser. His father fled to Italy from Poland and became the secretary of the Jewish relief agency Delasem. Mr. Grosset has a B.A. in Economics from Hebrew University Jerusalem (1968), and an MBA in Management from NYU (1972). He and his wife Chana Stern have two children and five grandchildren. Mr. Grosser is the publisher of Segulat Israel, the Italian Journal of Halacha and Jewish Thought.
