Stears: Hungary was the only country which did not allowed the transportation of Jews until it was occupied by the German Army.
Hungarian state was a victim of Hiter.
Anyone who has ever picked up a college level textbook of European history would know that Hungary allied itself to Germany. Of course, so did Italy.
Anyone who knows anything about the Holocaust or Italian history would know that no Jews were deported from Italy to the death camps until Italy renounced its alliance with Germany and was occupied.
This is
not a thread about Italian history, so I will not go into great depth, but deliberate misstatements cannot be allowed to stand. I am NOT an apologist for Mussolini. Hanging was too good for him. I am deeply ashamed that Fascism was created by an Italian. I am also ashamed that Italy adopted anti-semitic laws in the 1930s.
However, anti-semitism was NOT part of Fascism as originally constituted. Indeed, many prominent supporters of Fascism in the early days were Italian Jews. The anti-Semitic laws were adopted largely under pressure from Germany, where anti-semitism had been grafted onto Fascism.
As to Italian participation in the planning or execution of the Holocaust, your implications are laughable. As Nazis themselves are quoted as saying, they couldn't include the Italians in any of it because the Italians would never have stomached it.
For anyone actually interested in the subject, this is an excellent summary from the Holocaust Encyclopedia, whose authors, I think, would have no reason to whitewash the Italians. Indeed, I have made a lifelong study of that period in Italian history and I would argue with some of their conclusions. Regardless it is a good beginning. See:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005455
There is a bibliography. I have read all the books and can heartily recommend them.
You may also not be aware of the fact that Italy was engaged in a virtual civil war during much of the period in question. Many Italians were butchered for opposing the activities of the SS, Gestapo and even the regular German Army. One of them, a distant relative who bore my mother's surname, died in Natzweiler-Struthof. Other relatives, often women and children, were killed at various places all over my valley. So, I find your insinuations personally insulting.
Ed. It is a sad fact that some Italian Jews, embittered by what we
did do, left Italy after the war. We are the poorer for it. However, a good number remained, including Primo Levi, one of our Nobel Prize laureates in literature, and Rita Levi-Montalcini, one of our Nobel Laureates in science. She was also named a Senator for Life by the Italian government. The Luzzatis, the Segres and others continue to make their invaluable contributions to Italian culture.
)))