Not Facing the Past:Restitutions and Reparations in Italy (1944‑2017)

Abstract

This essay provides a partial reconstruction of some measures of restitution and reparation adopted by the first post‑Fascist Italian administrations on behalf of Jews. These measures reached their peak in 1945‑1947 and had a final addendum in 1955, with the passage of a law, still in force, that awarded former victims of persecution some compensation for their suffering but, overall, the reparation measures were vastly insufficient. In the Nineties, the period of antisemitic persecution came back into the Italian political spotlight, as part of a new wave of international attention focused on the consequences of the Shoah from a financial standpoint as well, due to the phenomenon of the Holocaust litigations. Nevertheless the Italian response was once again characterized by resistance, reticence and silence.