Scholars and historians tend to view the nineteenth century, if not the entire scope of Italian Jewish history, in light of the lachrymose events of the 1940s. Many have stylized or outwardly characterized the Italian Jews as naïve victims or fools for their inspired service to a state that ultimately betrayed them. This stance has not only sullied and obfuscated the achievements of Italian Jewry but also prevented the names of such inspired individuals as Ottolenghi, Guastalla, Rovighi and Segre from being remembered by posterity. I also take umbrage with the above mentioned lachrymose approach as it distorts the historical record, for the events of one decade should not be used as the prism through which the entire history of a people is viewed.
Nowhere in Jewish history, perhaps not even in the United States, have Jewish citizens displayed the type of military ardor evident in Italian Jewry. In no other country have so many Jews achieved martial prestige, become commanding generals, or served in the capacity of Minister of War or Chief of Naval Intelligence. Unfortunately, the attitude that many scholars have maintained towards the history of Italian Jewry has resulted in the achievements of this society being lost in obscurity. I feel that this fact renders a great injustice to Italian Jewish history in general, and incongruously discounts those Italian Jews whose belief in liberty, equality and brotherhood prompted them to offer their lives in exchange for the romantic ideal of a unified and democratic Italian Nation.
References
1
Ralph Nunberg, The Fighting Jew (New York, 1945) 128.
2
Nunberg, The Fighting Jew, 136.
3
Cecil Roth, The History of the Jews of Italy, (Philadelphia, 1946), 457.
4
Nathan Ausubel, Pictorial History of the Jewish People, (New York, 1953), 199
5
Roth, The History, 457.
6
Cecil Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 9, (Jerusalem, 1971), 1127.
7
Roth, The History, 460.
8
Ausubel, Pictorial History, 199.
9
Cecil Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1559.
10
Roth, The History, 461.
11
Ausubel, Pictorial History, 199.
12
Roth, The History, 466.
13
Roth, The History, 476.
14
Cecil Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1559.
15
Cecil Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1559.
16
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 7, 955.
17
Roth, The History, 484.
18
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 7, 955.
19
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 12, 1523.
20
Roth, The History, 484.
21
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 7, 955.
22
Roth, The History, 484.
23
Robereto Maria Dainotto, "The Jewish Risorgimento and the Questione Romana," The Italian Jewish Experience, ed. Thomas P. DiNapoli (Stony Brook, 2000), 108.
24
Dainotto, "The Jewish Risorgimento," 109.
25
Roth, The History, 484.
26
Ausubel, Pictorial History, 200.
27
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 12, 1524.
28
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1559.
29
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1559 1575.
30
DeLange, N. Atlas of the Jewish World, (1992), 64.
31
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1559
32
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1575.
33
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 14, 1114.
34
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 13, 1379.
35
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1559.
36
Roth (Ed). Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, 1572.
37
Roth, The History, 530.
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from the April Passover 2006 Edition of the Jewish Magazine