The stripping of assets owned by Jewish families was only one of the brutal consequences of the approval, in 1938, of the “measures for the defense of the race”, strongly desired by Mussolini to consolidate the fascistization of the country. The ban on “Jewish race” children from schools, the removal of teachers from university teaching, the removal of employees and professionals from public administration, the marginalization of women and men from the civil community, people that until the day before had been the neighbors, the shopkeeper where the shopping was done, the colleague with whom the office and sometimes also the belonging to the Fascist Party was shared, testify to the extensive repercussions of anti-Jewish policies on the Italian society and on the economic and cultural life of the country.
The documents kept in the Historical Archives of the Compagnia di San Paolo and used to create the exhibition “Houses and Things. The racial laws of 1938 and private property” are characterized as the starting point to build a narrative on the facts that involved the destinies of thousands of individuals and families, not only belonging to the Jewish communities.
The papers of the Gestioni EGELI fond thus become the link between documentary resources coming from different archival contexts, each of which brings an informative contribution, adds a useful detail to the narrative of the lives and stories, which were complex and dramatic, of those who personally suffered expropriation and confiscation. It is the documents, the correspondence, the images, the official documents that speak, together with the testimonies coming from various public and private archives, that in various capacities are involved in the project #le-case-e-le-cose.
The project is open to users’ contributions: whoever possesses information, documents, photographs useful to tell the lives of Jewish citizens who suffered the seizure and expropriation of properties can write to le-case-e-le-cose@fondazione1563.it
