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 ofevents of the kind presented by the author. The racial laws stand witness to thedangers of passively submitting to impositions that would mark the beginning ofeven more ghastly developments. (From the Preface of Rita Levi Montalcini)INDEX * Preface of Rita Levi Montalcini - Inmemory of the foreign Jewish Students at the University of Bologna. *Bologna 1938: silence and remembering. The racial Laws and foreign JewishStudents at the University of Bologna. * Appendix: The foreing JewishStudents fo the University of Bologna.From the Archives of our University, thatover the years have often thrown up original historiographical material, nowcome the shameful pages bearing witness to the discrimination endured bythe Jewish students who, in an effort to separate them from their “aryan”collegues, were expelled from the University by the fascist regime. Thoseyoungsters were our students who had entrusted their intellectual future toan institution that had lost its vocation ad critical conscience, that didnot know how to defend them, forgetting its traditional role as “mother oflaw”. The book of Gian Paolo Brizzi commits to our memory not just eventsthat are written on and interpreted but a raw existential truth that comescomplete with the names of those who, for reasons that were to become thetragedy of the century, were denied the chance to play out their ambitionsas they could and should have. (From the Presentation of Pier UgoCalzolari, University Rector)IN MEMORY FO THE FOREIGN JEWISH STUDENTSIN BOLOGNA di RITA LEVI-MONTALCINI Gian Paolo Brizzi hasretracted the story of some 490 foreign Jewish students, studying at theUnibersity of Bologna at the time when the racial laws were passed. The aimis to shed light on an ignominious event thet has to date escaped theattention of all those who have written and commented on events in thattragic period. Noone at the time was prepared to stand up for those youngstudents who became instead targets of derision, as witness the words of theeditor-in-chief of the Resto del Carlino: “Italy is not the promised landfor Jewish refugees from across half of Europe!”. How can we prevent arepetition for that aberrant nazi ideology based on total contempt forethical values? The consequences of such an aberration were and,unfortunately, are still being felt in all parts of the world. In the wordsof wellknown geneticist Alberto Piazza: “Non esistono le razze, esistono irazzisti” (Races do not exist, only racists exist). Another question,however, still needs to be asked. Would the resurgence of totalitarianideologies today find it harder to take root in the face of an intellectualelite better equipped to resist the foibles of the dictator of themonth? In order to preserve the memory, the adult generation ofdemocratic societies must be able to draw on the moral strenght to face upto its responsabilities over what happened under the fascism and nazism. Asthe third millenium gets under way, virtually the whole of the youngergeneration is unaware fo events fo the kind presented by the author. Theracial laws stand witness to the dangers of passively submitting toimposition that would mark the beginning of even more ghastly developments.In his praiseworthy study, prof. Gian Paolo Brizzi has succeded incommemorating the memory of those foreign Jewish students at the Universityof Bologna who fell victim to the ignominy that were the raciallaws.