Jewish displaced children and youths in Italy (1943-1948): a transnational perspective.

• In Event: Jewish Youth During and After the Holocaust

Abstract

This paper deals with the experience of the Jewish displaced persons (DPs) in Italy between the Allies’ landing in the country in 1943 and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. In particular, it focuses on the Jewish displaced children and youths after the Holocaust and their organization in hachsharot (collective farms) and kfarei ha-noar (children’s home) inside and nearby the refugee camps. These types of collective living served as «organized training centres where young people were educated and trained in preparation for their immigration to Palestine».
Drawing on hitherto unexplored primary sources, the paper discusses the early encounter between the Palestinian Jewish soldiers who voluntarily joined the Allied Army (hayalim) and the first core of Jewish DPs liberated in September 1943 from the Fascist Internment Camp of Ferramonti di Tarsia (Southern Italy). Soon, the hayalim launched the hachsharah scheme and encouraged Jewish DPs’ self-representation and self-organization, attributing a Zionist orientation to the rehabilitation programs on behalf of the Jewish DPs.
Exploring the creation of a successful network of individuals and institutions that cooperate for the rescue of the Jewish DPs after 1945, several factors will be analysed: the beginning of the humanitarian missions of the UN agencies, the involvement of the Jewish voluntary organizations and the considerable autonomy conceded to them, how humanitarian aid and political interests practically translated into a wide-ranging program for the rehabilitation of the Jewish DPs.
This contribution aims at shedding light on the transnational dimension of the Jewish displacement after the Holocaust. Analysing the evolution of the Jewish DPs’ social, cultural and political life in the refugee camps in Italy, this paper goes beyond the historiographical tendency that looks at Italy exclusively as the “Gate to Zion”. Hence, looking at both at the policy of the Jewish Agency and the emerging practices and ideals of international humanitarianism, this analysis respond to a twofold goal. On the one hand, it situates Italy as a proving ground where a network of military commissions, UN agencies and Jewish voluntary organizations supported new forms of welfare in managing the Jewish DPs; whereas, on the other hand, it stresses the dynamics that promoted Jewish younger generations’ self-understanding, which made their experience of displacement a springboard for shaping a new collective identity.

Author

• Chiara Renzo, Ca' Foscari University of Venice