Bologna 1938: silence and remembering. The racial laws and the foreign jewish students at the University of Bologna

Gian Paolo Brizzi has retraced the story of some 490 foreign jewish students, stidying at the University of Bologna at the time when the racial laws were passed. The aim is to shed light on an ignominious event that has to date escaped the attention of all those who have written and commented on events in that tragic period…As the third millenium gets under way, virtually the whole of the younger generation is unaware of
events of the kind presented by the author. The racial laws stand witness to the
dangers of passively submitting to impositions that would mark the beginning of
even more ghastly developments. (From the Preface of Rita Levi Montalcini)

INDEX
* Preface of Rita Levi Montalcini – In
memory of the foreign Jewish Students at the University of Bologna. *
Bologna 1938: silence and remembering. The racial Laws and foreign Jewish
Students at the University of Bologna. * Appendix: The foreing Jewish
Students fo the University of Bologna.

From the Archives of our University, that
over the years have often thrown up original historiographical material, now
come the shameful pages bearing witness to the discrimination endured by
the Jewish students who, in an effort to separate them from their “aryan”
collegues, were expelled from the University by the fascist regime. Those
youngsters were our students who had entrusted their intellectual future to
an institution that had lost its vocation ad critical conscience, that did
not know how to defend them, forgetting its traditional role as “mother of
law”. The book of Gian Paolo Brizzi commits to our memory not just events
that are written on and interpreted but a raw existential truth that comes
complete with the names of those who, for reasons that were to become the
tragedy of the century, were denied the chance to play out their ambitions
as they could and should have. (From the Presentation of Pier Ugo
Calzolari, University Rector)

IN MEMORY FO THE FOREIGN JEWISH STUDENTS
IN BOLOGNA di RITA LEVI-MONTALCINI Gian Paolo Brizzi has
retracted the story of some 490 foreign Jewish students, studying at the
Unibersity of Bologna at the time when the racial laws were passed. The aim
is to shed light on an ignominious event thet has to date escaped the
attention of all those who have written and commented on events in that
tragic period. Noone at the time was prepared to stand up for those young
students who became instead targets of derision, as witness the words of the
editor-in-chief of the Resto del Carlino: “Italy is not the promised land
for Jewish refugees from across half of Europe!”. How can we prevent a
repetition for that aberrant nazi ideology based on total contempt for
ethical values? The consequences of such an aberration were and,
unfortunately, are still being felt in all parts of the world. In the words
of wellknown geneticist Alberto Piazza: “Non esistono le razze, esistono i
razzisti” (Races do not exist, only racists exist). Another question,
however, still needs to be asked. Would the resurgence of totalitarian
ideologies today find it harder to take root in the face of an intellectual
elite better equipped to resist the foibles of the dictator of the
month? In order to preserve the memory, the adult generation of
democratic societies must be able to draw on the moral strenght to face up
to its responsabilities over what happened under the fascism and nazism. As
the third millenium gets under way, virtually the whole of the younger
generation is unaware fo events fo the kind presented by the author. The
racial laws stand witness to the dangers of passively submitting to
imposition that would mark the beginning of even more ghastly developments.
In his praiseworthy study, prof. Gian Paolo Brizzi has succeded in
commemorating the memory of those foreign Jewish students at the University
of Bologna who fell victim to the ignominy that were the racial
laws.