{"id":4596,"date":"2018-01-15T07:05:09","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T06:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/?p=4596"},"modified":"2018-01-15T07:05:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T06:05:09","slug":"italics-king-betrayed-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/","title":{"rendered":"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"italics\"<\/a>By Ben Cohen*<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seventy-three years after the end of the Second World War, the gallery of European leaders who proudly collaborated with the Nazi German regime remains firmly established. France had Marshal Philippe P\u00e9tain. Romania had the former army officer and prime minister Ion Antonescu. And Italy, of course, had Benito Mussolini, the former socialist parliamentarian who reinvented himself as \u201cIl Duce\u201d at the head of Italy\u2019s fascist movement.<\/p>\n

All of these wartime dictators had their indispensable sidekicks. In Mussolini\u2019s case, among their number was King Victor Emmanuel III of the House of Savoy, who acceded to the throne in 1900 and temporarily held the titles of \u201cEmperor of Ethiopia\u201d and \u201cKing of the Albanians\u201d during a 46-year reign that ended with Italy devastated by fascist rule. It was the king who enabled Mussolini to become an unchallenged dictator by 1928. And it was the king who provided his signature on the notorious Italian \u201cRacial Laws\u201d of 1938, which stripped Jews of basic civil rights, forbade them to enter into marriages with non-Jews, confiscated their property, and banned them from jobs in government and finance.<\/p>\n

For all this and more, Victor Emmanuel continues to be reviled by large numbers of Italians, including many members of the small Jewish community of 23,000. Yet, as Noemi Di Segni \u2014 the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) \u2014 pointed out in a conversation this week with The Algemeiner, \u201cmany important cultural institutions, like libraries and schools and even streets, are named after the king.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may have heard of Giovanni Falcone,\u201d Di Segni continued, referring to the courageous judge in Sicily murdered by the Mafia in 1992 during a crackdown on organized crime. \u201cWe don\u2019t have schools named for him, but we do for a king who betrayed his country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like her colleagues elsewhere in Europe, Di Segni wants to focus on the emerging challenges for Italy\u2019s 2,000-year-old Jewish community \u2014 but, in true continental fashion, the painful memories of the past keep striking their blows.<\/p>\n

Elected as president of UCEI in July 2016, Di Segni is approaching the halfway mark of her term. She is not the first woman to have headed the Italian Jewish community (that achievement belongs to the late Tullia Zevi, the renowned wartime journalist who was elected to the role in 1983), but she is, as she chuckled, \u201cthe youngest,\u201d at the age of 47. In a position that is more often than not in the public eye, Di Segni made headlines in December, when she spoke out against the return of Victor Emmanuel\u2019s remains from Egypt for reburial at the former royal family\u2019s mausoleum near Turin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to say it clearly, in all fora: Victor Emmanuel III was an accomplice of the fascist regime, whose rise he never opposed, and of its violence,\u201d Di Segni said in a statement at the time \u2014 a firm stance she maintained.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur position was to say \u2018no way,\u2019 to any return (of the king\u2019s remains) to Italy,\u201d Di Segni said. \u201cWe expressed this position not just as Jewish people, but as Italians. It\u2019s not only us \u2014 Italian people everywhere have these feelings, because it was not only us, the Jewish people, who suffered the consequences of what this king has done.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Di Segni, there is a duty to the past primarily because of the future. \u201cIf you forget what happened eighty years ago, you\u2019ll forget what happened yesterday,\u201d she said. \u201cWe Jews remember what happened 3,000 years ago, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, there are young people who gave their lives for this country,\u201d she continued, \u201cfrom Australia, from the United States, from Britain. It\u2019s them we need to remember with gratitude, not a king who was a traitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Di Segni situated the controversy over Victor Emmanuel in the context of growing discomfort with how the past is seen in Italy. In a separate development last month, the Rome newspaper Il Tempo \u2014 in darkly humorous swipe at Italy\u2019s current crop of leaders \u2014 named Mussolini its \u201cMan of the Year\u201d for 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Il Tempo made this choice in a positive way,\u201d Di Segni said. \u201cThey made a satirical choice, it was an intelligent way of highlighting how our society feels about these symbols.\u201d Nonetheless, she added, those Italians nostalgic for the fascist past would \u201chave been happy to see this kind of choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real issue is the problem in Italy of a return of fascist or neo-fascist behavior, ways of legitimizing racial hate,\u201d Di Segni asserted. \u201cEvery day, it feels like more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a country whose attention is consumed by soccer, Italy\u2019s soccer stadiums are an especially febrile platform for the display of fascist symbols, the chanting of fascist slogans, and the continual harassment of black players by fans uttering racist pejoratives. The Rome club Lazio, whose historical supporters included Mussolini, has a notably dubious international reputation in that regard \u2014 though Di Segni was quick to emphasize that \u201cLazio is far from being the only one, this is a problem for all of the clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last October, Lazio\u2019s hardcore fans caused outrage when they distributed stickers showing Anne Frank dressed in the jersey of a rival team \u2014 a way of degrading them as \u201cJewish.\u201d In response, Italy\u2019s Football Federation instructed the country\u2019s soccer clubs to publicly read out a short passage of Anne Frank\u2019s diary before kickoff at the next set of matches. Lazio\u2019s players, meanwhile, warmed up on the pitch wearing t-shirts showing Anne Frank\u2019s face with the message, \u201cNo to Antisemitism!\u201d<\/p>\n

The reading from the diary was not entirely successful. At Lazio, dozens of supporters gave fascist salutes and chanted fascist songs, while at the Turin club Juventus, some supporters turned their backs.<\/p>\n

For Di Segni, the reading \u201cwas a sentimental answer at that precise moment.\u201d But it also spotlighted an important opportunity. \u201cOur young people are growing up in a world that is fast and flat,\u201d she said. \u201cSchools are not enough, family is not enough, books, documentaries, these are not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

By accepting honestly that vast numbers of people experience a deeply emotional relationship with their chosen soccer club, Di Segni argued, a new vista is opened. \u201cSport is like a door that enters into people\u2019s feelings,\u201d she said. \u201cThey watch, they hear, they sing, and through all that, through knowing that football is the subject of strong feelings, you can transmit positive values.\u201d<\/p>\n

The historically deep integration of the Jewish community into Italy\u2019s national culture and life is a source of pride for Di Segni. In another landmark event during a busy December, Italy\u2019s National Jewish Museum opened in the northern city of Ferrara \u2014 a place as significant for the development of Judaism in Italy as Cordoba was for Judaism in Spain, or Vilna for Judaism in Poland and Lithuania.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was to have a space which engages in a dialog with visitors,\u201d Di Segni said of the state-of-the-art, multimedia facility. While the Italian experience of the Holocaust is an integral component of the museum experience, Di Segni underlined that \u201cthe Jewish people is much more than the story of the Holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the story of how Jews in Italy have lived and are still living,\u201d she said. \u201cIt shows the heritage of Judaism in Italy, Ashkenazi and Sephardi. And at the international level, it\u2019s a major attraction for people from other Jewish communities, and for people from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the future, Di Segni eyes that with a degree of wariness. Lack of civic education is a major concern, she said. \u201cWe had a referendum in 1946 that abolished the monarchy,\u201d she observed as an example. \u201cYoung people now have to know why it was that people back then rejected the monarchy, what convinced them to choose republican government.\u201d To see where historical ignorance can lead, Di Segni argued, look no further than the successive resolutions about Jerusalem at the UN and its various bodies. \u201cYou can have a negotiated, political resolution of the question of Jerusalem,\u201d she said. \u201cBut for that to happen, you cannot deny history, you cannot say that it was never the city of the Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Day to day, Di Segni is occupied with the demands of her role, from ensuring continued high-quality Jewish education to assisting Jewish families experiencing hardship \u2014 a problem she said is becoming more acute.<\/p>\n

\u201cExternally, we have a really important challenge with the other religions, and with those of no religion,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s very important to show that religious values can serve the non-religious parts of the country \u2014 not by having them become religious necessarily, but by encouraging and helping them to do something positive for society.\u201d<\/p>\n

*This article was published in The Allgemeiner on January 14, 2018. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ben Cohen* Seventy-three years after the end of the Second World War, the gallery of European leaders who proudly collaborated with the Nazi German regime remains firmly established. France had Marshal Philippe P\u00e9tain. Romania had the former army officer and prime minister Ion Antonescu. And Italy, of course, had Benito Mussolini, the former socialist… leggi <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4296,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7613],"tags":[],"position":[],"class_list":["post-4596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italian-word-of-the-week"],"yoast_head":"\nITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019 - Pagine Ebraiche International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019 - Pagine Ebraiche International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ben Cohen* Seventy-three years after the end of the Second World War, the gallery of European leaders who proudly collaborated with the Nazi German regime remains firmly established. France had Marshal Philippe P\u00e9tain. Romania had the former army officer and prime minister Ion Antonescu. And Italy, of course, had Benito Mussolini, the former socialist… leggi \" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pagine Ebraiche International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-15T06:05:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rossellatercatin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rossellatercatin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/\",\"name\":\"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019 - Pagine Ebraiche International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-15T06:05:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\",\"width\":206,\"height\":92},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/\",\"name\":\"Pagine Ebraiche International\",\"description\":\"A Taste of the Italian Jewish World\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1\",\"name\":\"rossellatercatin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"rossellatercatin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/author\/rossellatercatin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019 - Pagine Ebraiche International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019 - Pagine Ebraiche International","og_description":"By Ben Cohen* Seventy-three years after the end of the Second World War, the gallery of European leaders who proudly collaborated with the Nazi German regime remains firmly established. France had Marshal Philippe P\u00e9tain. Romania had the former army officer and prime minister Ion Antonescu. And Italy, of course, had Benito Mussolini, the former socialist… leggi ","og_url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/","og_site_name":"Pagine Ebraiche International","article_published_time":"2018-01-15T06:05:09+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"rossellatercatin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rossellatercatin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/","url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/","name":"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019 - Pagine Ebraiche International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","datePublished":"2018-01-15T06:05:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","width":206,"height":92},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2018\/01\/15\/italics-king-betrayed-country\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ITALICS \u2018This Was a King Who Betrayed His Country\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website","url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/","name":"Pagine Ebraiche International","description":"A Taste of the Italian Jewish World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1","name":"rossellatercatin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rossellatercatin"},"url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/author\/rossellatercatin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4597,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596\/revisions\/4597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4596"},{"taxonomy":"position","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/position?post=4596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}