Book Review: Jewish Displaced Persons in Italy 1943-1951: Politics, Rehabilitation, Identity

As Chiara Renzo states in the introduction of her meticulously researched book, Jewish Displaced Persons in Italy 1943–1951: Politics, Rehabilitation, Identity, Italy, which was one of the main embarkation points for illegal immigration to Palestine (Aliya Bet), has often been depicted as the waystation for Jewish DPs eager to reach Palestine. Delving into the experiences of thousands of Jewish displaced persons (DPs) who resided in refugee camps and hakhsharot (collective farms or training centers which prepared for aliyah) across Italy from the liberation of southern regions in 1943 through the early 1950s, Chiara Renzo demonstrates that Italy was much more than just a layover for DPs as they waited resettlement outside of Europe.

Using a wide range of sources, including the JDC Archives, the book explores the DPs’ time in postwar Italy and how the experience of displacement shaped their lives. While the Allied forces aimed to repatriate displaced populations, many Jewish DPs, encouraged by Jewish soldiers and emissaries from the Yishuv, resisted this policy, instead aiming for resettlement in Mandatory Palestine. The Jewish DPs established the Organization of the Jewish Refugees in Italy (OJR) whose leadership, drawn from former partisans and ghetto leaders, pleaded repeatedly for the British to open the gates of Palestine. This desire for a future in Eretz Israel shaped their identity and aspirations.

The book sheds light on the role of humanitarian agencies. In 1945, the Allies handed over the administration of the refugee camps to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which coordinated its relief programs with several organizations, including the JDC. JDC supplemented the food program of UNRRA and organized kosher kitchens for orthodox Jews. The organization established health facilities and tried to curb the spread of epidemics in the camp by launching an intensive campaign of health education and social hygiene, using pamphlets, posters and lectures to raise awareness.

The book also highlights the vital role that education and culture played in the life of DPs. The high birth rate in the camps led the JDC to establish educational programs for parents, and facilities for babies and children. The organization collaborated with the OJRI to provide formal education to DP children in kindergartens and schools, and to set up winter and summer residentials, which combined educational and recreational activities that promoted the children’s mental and physical and mental rehabilitation. In close cooperation with the Organization for Rehabilitation through training (ORT), the JDC also supported vocational training to teach DPs trades that increased their resettlement opportunities.

In addition, cultural activities for adults were organized, including plays in Yiddish and plays written in the DP camps, which helped the refugees reconnect with their past and process the trauma of the Holocaust. Chiara Renzo points out that “the flourishing of such a creative and wide-ranging cultural and educational programme is further evidence of the fact that Italy represented more than just a transit station where the Jewish DPs were passively awaiting their resettlement” (p.120).

Not all Jewish DPs in Italy opted for aliyah. Because of the difficulties involved in obtaining visas to Palestine before 1948, some DPs started to abandon their hope to emigrate there and sought emigration opportunities in other countries. The outbreak of war after the establishment of Israel led others to opt for other destinations, including Australia and the United States.

Jewish Displaced Persons in Italy offers compelling anecdotes and fascinating insights. For instance, it recounts how a group of Orthodox Jews, unable to find black cloth for skullcaps, ingeniously repurposed abandoned Fascist black shirts (p. 101-102). The book is both engaging and an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the everyday lives of DP Jews in postwar Italy.