Posted on 04/29/2012 3:23:24 PM PDT by Milagros
I am not making any apologies for, nor whitewashing Nazi-Germany crimes against the Jewish people as a whole, including annihilating at least 6,000,000 and wounding so many... for life. Nor for many Polish-Catholic helpers.. albeit some Poles did help the Jews.
My focus of this piece is, speicifically about fascist Italy, pro-Islamic fascism Vs the Vatican that objected "racial" theories.
Mediterranean Conflict with Britain Seen Behind Italian Anti-semitismhttp://archive.jta.org/article/1938/02/15/2841160/mediterranean-conflict-with-britain-seen-behind-italian-antisemitism
February 15, 1938
ROME, Feb. 14 (JTA) –
Italian anti-Semitism, increasing with the approach of the visit which Chancellor Adolf Hitler will pay to Premier Benito Mussolini in May, is nevertheless inspired by Anglo-Italian differences regarding Mediterranean problems, observers agreed here today.
It was pointed out that newspaper attacks on Jews are directed by Roberto Farinacci, a member of the Fascist Grand Council who has been active in criticism of British policy. Because of difficulties with Britain dating back to the Ethiopian war, Italy has supported the Arabs in their conflict with the Jews in Palestine.
Active anti-Semitism is a new thing in Italy, a country of 41,000,000 inhabitants of whom less than 60,000 are Jewish; and a country in which the Vatican, which opposes the racial theories of the German Nazis, enjoys wide influence. The intellectual anti-Semitism inspired by Giovanni Preziosi was held to have no real importance. More than two years ago publication of a book called "Jews in Italy" gave rise to a series of press polemics in which the Jews found defenders.
Official circles said at that time that anti-Semitism only represented one section of Italian opinion, and that it was carried out not only without the support of the Government, but against its will. The Grand Rabbi of Rome, received by Mussolini during the controversy, was given assurances that the Jews would be treated with justice.
When Jews began to leave Germany for Palestine, many of them were transported by Italian vessels sailing from Trieste. At that time official Fascism sought to distinguish itself from National Socialism, condemning the German racial idea as opposed to the Italian conception of the nation. That was also the period in which Italy was presented as a connecting link between the orient and the occident, with Rome serving as a sort of melting pot for all racial groups.
Since then the situation has changed, with increasingly numerous newspaper attacks on the Jews. The pro-Moslem Italian policy dates from Mussolini's trip to Libya, during which he was presented with "the sword of Islam" by Moslem subjects.
For all these reasons the Jewish problem is held to be connected with a Mediterranean policy contrary to British interests. At the same time, it has become an internal problem for Italy because of the increasing influence of Nazi ideas. Surveillance of Jews has redoubled. Last Spring a relatively important number of them were arrested at Milan and in the autumn were tried before a special tribunal.
In contrast with the practice in Germany, however, no official steps have been taken here against the Jews on a racial basis. The prejudice felt against all "Intellectuals is simply stronger where Jews are concerned.
The anti-Semitic document known as the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" was recently republished by an Italian review. A special weekly has been founded to advance the policy of protection against the Jews. Three hundred students of the University of Bologna have signed a petition against their Jewish fellow-students.
The Vatican, meanwhile, continuing its opposition to German racial ideas, takes every opportunity to remind the world that all races have a role to play in the human harmony devised by the creator, and to recall to some theoreticians the fact that Christ was a Jew.
catholic ping
Unfortunately, this situation did not last. In addition to the gradual influence of Nazi Germany (a country which Mussolini originally was quite hostile to) there were the things mentioned in this article: Mussolini received the "Sword of Islam" in Libya in 1937 and thus began to pester Britain by supporting the Arabs in Israel.
Even though the Rome-Berlin Axis began on October 28, 1936, anti-Semitism did not become an official Fascist policy until July 14, 1938 when Italian newspapers (a controlled press edited by Mussolini) published the "Manifesto of Racist Scientists."
It is true that official Fascist anti-Semitism never reached the heights of that of the Nazis, but Mussolini completely reversed his earlier position and kowtowed to Hitler on this. Furthermore after this date Italy refused to take in any more Jewish refugees from Nazism, which lead to the death of no telling how many who might have otherwise been spared.
It is quite ironic that anti-Semitism is now considered a key ingredient in the ideology of any person or organization labeled "fascist." This was simply not true in the beginning (some non-Italian "fascists," such as Ireland's Eoin O'Duffy, also rejected anti-Semitism). One of Mussolini's most influential mistresses was Margherita Sarfatt, the "Jewish mother of Fascism."
Unfortunately, it is this anti-Semitic form of Fascism that survived in post-war Italy and all the Italian neo-Fascist parties embrace anti-Semitism and the ideology of the Italian Social Republic (the German puppet government over which Mussolini presided as a figurehead from 1943 to 1945).
My friends at JTA need to be mindful of the "other" 5,000,000 the Nazis annihilated if they want to participate in these debates.
ML/NJ
Farinacci was one of the most fanatic Fascists. On July 25, 1943, when the Fascist Grand Council finally had enough of Mussolini and voted to fire him, Farinacci didn't vote. He later joined Mussolini's puppet "Republic of Salò"
Italian Communist guerrillas caught him and sent him to his eternal reward in 1945.
All victions are unfortunate. But... who else was destined to be specifically “exterminated,” asides from the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews?
Gypsies
Jehovah Witnesses
homosexuals
for starters.
First They Came for the Jews
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.~Pastor Martin Niemöller
Community and individuality are not opposites. People cannot survive on their own. When the odds are stacked against you, you must rally with the oppressed and hated.
When a growing oppressive regime is taking hold, you must act, otherwise you will soon face your enemy alone and hopeless.
Strength of community is a strength as much as individualism, as long you are willing to face weaknesses in your own community. Ignoring slacking values will mean that you will be rallied against by those you oppress.
Niemöller affirms we must rally against unhealthy organized regimes. We must also stay vigilant with those that appear to be good natured, as all organisation attracts corruption. Niemöller also warns us that if it is you who are corrupt, then you will face a stronger combined force of foe!
~Vexen Crabtree
Here you go. Jews finished in second place behind Slavs.
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NAZIS.TAB1.1.GIF
And, of course, for the Italians, the Ethiopians were probably in first place.
“Pastor Martin Niemöller”
U-boat officer, member of the Friekorps, and an early supporter of Hitler? Read up on what he really preached before he got sideways with Hess.
You wrote:
“U-boat officer,”
In WWI. And?
“member of the Friekorps,”
Good for him. They opposed Communists. You’re problem with that is what?
“and an early supporter of Hitler?”
He was an idiot. He got over it quickly. He opposed Hitler and was thrown in a concentration camp in 1937. He stayed there until 1945.
“Read up on what he really preached before he got sideways with Hess.”
What he said pales in comparison to the mistakes he made after WWII.
Poles...
Poles...
Gypsies
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