The Fascists and the Jews of Italy: Mussolini's Race Laws, 1938–1943 (Studies in Legal History)
Cambridge University Press, 4/21/2014
EAN 9781107027565, ISBN10: 110702756X
Hardcover, 274 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm
Language: English
From 1938 until 1943 - before the German occupation and accompanying Holocaust - Fascist Italy drafted and enforced a comprehensive set of anti-Semitic laws. Notwithstanding later rationalizations, the laws were administered with a high degree of severity and resulted in serious damage to the Italian Jewish community. Written from the perspective of an American legal scholar, this book constitutes the first truly comprehensive survey of the Race Laws in the English language. Based on an exhaustive review of Italian legal, administrative and judicial sources, together with archives of the Italian Jewish community, Professor Michael A. Livingston demonstrates the zeal but also the occasional ambivalence and contradictions with which the Race Laws were applied by the Italian legal order and ordinary citizens. Although frequently depressing, the history of the Race Laws contains numerous examples of personal courage and idealism, providing a useful and timely study of what happens when otherwise decent people are confronted with an evil and unjust legal order.
1. Introduction
on the historical significance of the Leggi Razziali
2. Legislation
race, religion, and the 'Italian Model' of anti-Semitism
3. Administration
expansion, evasion, and the problem of institutional conflict
4. Adjudication
theory, practice, and the role of judicial personality
5. The daily plebiscite
how local officials and ordinary Italians responded to the race laws
6. From perpetrators to victims
the question of Jewish responses
7. Conclusion
implications of the study for Italy, the legal profession, and the study of racial statutes.