DELASEM

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The DELASEM ( Delegazione per l'Assistenta degli Emigranti Ebrei ) was an Italian welfare organization to support the "Jewish" emigrants. It existed from 1939 to 1947 and could only work underground in the German-occupied areas of Italy from 1943 to 1945.

history

background

Italy had relatively liberal immigration law, so that from 1933 onwards thousands of "Jewish" refugees fled from the National Socialists to Italy as a transit country or into exile. With the Italian anti-Jewish race laws of 1938, the state forced the emigration of foreign “Jews” and at the same time Italian “Jews” who had acquired Italian citizenship from 1919 were declared stateless persons who were supposed to leave Italy. When Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940, mainly male nationals of enemy states and “Jews” without Italian citizenship were interned in Italian concentration camps (campi di concentramento not comparable to German concentration camps) for military security reasons . Women and children were often left with no income. This also happened in Italian Libya , in the Italian Dodecanese and later in the Italian-occupied part of Croatia , Slovenia , Albania and France .

Support for the emigrants (1939–1943)

The Association of Italian Jewish Communities founded DESALEM in 1939 with the director Lelio Vittorio Valobra and the official purpose of supporting refugees and interned foreigners and facilitating emigration. The company was based in Genoa, as this is where most of the shipping connections started. The society was supported by church circles and international aid organizations such as the Joint Distribution Committee (Joint) and the Jewish Colonization Association (HICEM) and had offices in cities with larger Jewish communities.

Before the war, DELASEM helped about 2,000 people to leave the country and supported 9,000 refugees with food, clothing, medicine and financial grants. Another 3,000 people were able to emigrate until the Armistice of Cassibile on September 8, 1943. Of the total of 5,000 emigrants, 2,000 went to Spain and Portugal, 800 to the USA, 600 to Shanghai, 500 to Tangier and 400 to France and England.

The Villa Emma in 1900

When the Jews were interned at the beginning of the war, DELASEM lost a number of proven employees. In order to organize contact with the internees, a network of correspondents who elected the internees was built up. The financial resources of DELASEM were disproportionate to the requirements, so that only small grants could be granted. In addition to providing material help, the tracing service tried to find relatives, had a free table, sent packages with donations in kind and helped with obtaining visas and coordinating the departures of emigrants.

One of the most outstanding achievements of the organization was the rental of Villa Emma , which provided refuge for more than 70 children.

Underground during the Italian Social Republic (1943–1945)

Map of the Social Republic of Italy

After the Cassibile armistice, much of Italy, including areas in the Balkans, southern France and Greece, was occupied by Germany and the satellite state of the Italian Social Republic (RSI) was created. “Jews” who had fled to Italy from France and Yugoslavia were directed south by DELASEM. The employees of DELASEM had to go into hiding and could no longer continue their work. Valobra was still able to receive the aid promise from the Archbishop of Genoa Pietro Boetto to support DELASEM and fled to Switzerland himself.

"Jews" and "non-Jews" continued to work underground in the respective representations. It was no longer a matter of looking after the foreign Jews before they left the country, but of the mere survival of hunted Jews.

financing

DELASAM collected donations and was financially supported by the international Jewish associations Joint and HICEM . Due to the war, money transfers from these organizations were no longer possible. Funding was then continued through couriers and a clearing process. The international organizations paid schools, crossing costs and support for Italian Jews abroad, and in return the DELASEM received donations from emigrating Jews.

people

Well-known people who campaigned for DELASEM or worked for it and are sometimes listed as Righteous Among the Nations :

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Susan Zuccotti: The Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue and Survival . P. 65 f.
  2. ^ Klaus Voigt: Refuge on Revocation - Exile in Italy 1933-1945 . P. 283 ff.
  3. ^ Susan Zuccotti: The Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue and Survival . P. 67.
  4. ^ Silvano Longhi: The Jews and the Resistance to Fascism in Italy (1943-1945) . P. 98
  5. ^ Klaus Voigt: Refuge on Revocation - Exile in Italy 1933-1945 . P. 280 ff.