THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 8 Friday, December 10, 1982 MOVING? Priced Sale of Household Furnishings Professionally Conducted In Your Home Estate Liquidators 1 Italians Protected Jews During World War II By JOHN BIERMAN person with direct per- (Editor's note: Bier- sonal experience is in- man, a television pro- vited to contact John ducer, is researching a Bierman in writing at Liquidators Appraisers proposed documentary Room 1406, 400 Madison 368-4044 film on Italian efforts to Ave., New York, N.Y. 875-7650 thwart Hitler's extermi- 10017. Bierman is the Member of Antique Appraisal Assoc. of America nation program. Any author of "Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg" and also produced "Missing Hero," the documentary about Wallenberg which was-seen on PBS televi- sion stations across the U.S. last year.) Since the unification of Italy under Garibaldi, the light Hanuka candles before Sabbath candles _ record of the Italians Gifts For The Whole Family towards their small Jewish minority has generally been • Dreidels good — especially during World War II when, despite • Decorations • Paper Goods being Hitler's main Euro- • Gift Wrapping pean ally, they rejected • Tablecloths Nazi demands to cooperate • $trearuN-s • - Napkins in the Final Solution. • Greetings Cards This is a heartening but • Plates very little-known aspect of • Menorahs • Cups Holocaust history and — • Candles given the bitterness of some • Cookie Cutters recent Jewish comment about Yasir Arafat's visit to Rome and the Vatican, fol- lowed by the terrorist at- tack on a Rome synagogue Records • •Giftware from Israel — this may be a good time to Books spell the story out. • Candlesticks With all his many faults, Toys • Records & Tapes anti-Semitism was not orig- inally an intrinsic part of Games • Books Benito Mussolini's political Chocolate Gelt • 14 Kt Gold Jewelry philosophy. An official Fascist Encyclopedia published in the early 1930s specifi- cally disavowed anti- Semitism as `impossible because of (Italy's) tradi- tions. And writing on marriages between Jews and Catholics in 1932, Mussolini himself com- mented that "the fre- Your Jewish Supply House quency of mixed mar- riages in Italy will be - 25242 GREENFIELD welcomed by all those North of 10 Mile in Greenfield Center who are truly good, sin- OAK PARK • 967-3920 cere, reliable Italians." Open Thursday Eve. and All Day Sunday Mussolini cast these lib- eral sentiments aside in EDMUND FRANK & CO.. BORENSTEIN'S YOUR HANUKA STORE AND A WHOLE LOT MORE FOR YOUR HANUKA PARTY • FOR THE KIDS .. • • • • FOR THE ADULTS WE HAVE ISRAELI AND DOMESTIC KOSHER WINES, CHAMPAGNE AND ASTI SPUMANTE FOR GIFT GIVING. CHECK OUT OUR CASE PRICES AND SAVE! BORENSTEIN'S 1938 when — ever the op- portunist and now playing second fiddle to Hitler whom he had previously counseled to go easy on the Jews — he published a ra- cial manifesto which launched an official policy of anti-Semitism. But the policy was never implemented vigorously and although Jews suffered professionally and eco- nomically they were not in physical danger until Italy surrendered to the Allies in the fall of 1943 and the Nazis occupied the north of the country. Nor were the Jews of the Italian-occupied territories in danger, even though this led to acute high-level tension between the Axis partners. In France, for example, after the puppet Vichy gov- ernment agreed to Nazi de- mands for the deportation of all foreign Jews, the Ita- lians intervened. So far as their zone was concerned, said their military com- mander, the internment of "persons of Jewish race" was prohibited. When the Vichy authorities appeared not to take this and similar warnings seriously, Gen- eral Carlo Avarna di Gualtieri made it crystal clear. His previous mes- sages, he wrote, "do not bear the character of a request or a proposal but are • a definite pro- nouncement." SS Colonel Helmut Knochen in Paris urged his headquarters in Berlin to press for formal in- structions from the Duce to his officers in the field to cooperate, otherwise "we must foresee that the final solution in France will have to be reconsidered." But even though Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop raised the . matter personally with Mussolini, things did not "improve." In Yugoslavia it was a similar story. A puppet re- gime of Croatian fascists in- stigated a reign of terror against Jews and Serbs, and Italian troops, acting on their own initiative, helped hundreds to escape. When their , own occu- pation zone had been es- tablished, the Italians chased the Croatian fas- cist militia out,_ allowing all Jews and Serbs'there to live unmolested, and when the Nazis began to press for the Jews to be deported to the extermi- nation camps, the Italian commander responded that it was "not in keep- ing with the honor of the Italian army" to comply. A group of prominent Croatian Jews later wrote to the commander praising "the nobility of soul and humane feelings" of his men. "Nothing will ever erase from our hearts the eternal gratitutde we feel," they said. " In Greece, the great majority of the Jewish popu- lation were in Salonika, in- side the Nazi zone, and were slaughtered at Auschwitz. But again, the Italians val- iantly protected the Jews in their own zone. In one instance they warned the Germans that one of Adolf Eichmann's lieutenants risked arrest if he did not cease his activi- ties in Athens, inside the Italia _ n zone. __ A surviving Greek Jew, Itzhak Nehemia, wrote la- ter: "The Jews who lived in the parts occupied by the Italians were more or less safe. The Italian govern- ment openly resisted Ger- man attempts to arrest and persecute Jews." El Al in L iquidation 4 44 1,0tri 4. „ " ■ • • ,;,.. • TEL AVIV (JTA) — The El Al national airline was officially put into liquida- tion Sunday, when the Jerusalem District Court agreed to an appeal by its shareholders and appointed Amram Blum, the adminis- trator general and official receiver, as temporary re- ceiver for the airline. The Histadrut and the El Al employees committees have therefore lost all their series of fights to prevent the El Al windup. Blum is expected to try to get part of the airline back into the air again, believing that an operating airline will be a more attractive buy for possible investors if it is decided to sell the air- line to private individuals or groups. Assisted by Rafi Har- Lev, a former El Al acting president, Blum is ex- pected to try and operate some of the more profita- ble lines while keeping others closed. But the airline employees committees have been get- ting all employees to sign an undertalgnA not to re tu4711 work at management re- quest or instructions unless all employees are rehired or suitable arrangements made for those wishing to leave the company. Heavy financial fines have been mentioned for any El Al worker contravening this agreement. Meanwhile, heavy police reinforcements are on guard at Ben-Gurion Air- port to prevent any possible demonstration by El Al workers who, it is feared, may try to sabotage airline equipment. The impending liquida- tion of El Al has created problems for the airline's cargo service, the only branch still operating. One cargo jet was held up for debt payment at Frankfurt airport and another was delayed at Cairo airport. Both were released after the Israeli government assured El Al creditors that it as- sumes full responsibility for payments due. Losses of at least $30 mil- lion for the fiscal year end- ing March 31 were expected.