The expulsion and return of Jewish teachers (1938-1945)

Valeria Graffone, The expulsion and return of Jewish teachers in the papers preserved in the historical archives of the University of Turin, master's thesis, University of Turin, a.y. 2010-2011

In the first months of 2010, taking the opportunity of the annual celebrations for Remembrance Day, the Historical Archives put on display documents from which it was clearly evident how profoundly the introduction in 1938 of the "Provisions for the defense of the Italian race", better known as "racial laws", had influenced the life of the University and its daily activities.

It was a list of documents chosen by the archivists, among the hundreds of documents from that era, to create the exhibition itinerary.

The vastness of this documentary source aroused the interest of Dr. Valeria Graffone who, under the guidance of prof. Fabio Levi carefully analyzed it in all its aspects and proposed in his degree thesis «a review of documents, ministerial circulars, rectoral circulars, internal administrative documents, extracts from the sessions of the Academic Senate and Faculty Councils between 1938 and 1945, personal communications of expelled Jewish teachers, etc., preserved in the historical archives of the University of Turin».

With the author's consent, we publish the index and introduction of this work.

In 2018, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of the promulgation of the racial laws in Italy, the University of Turin organized the exhibition "Science and shame. The University of Turin and the racial laws" (from 15 November 2018 to 28 February 2019). They are available online biographies of expelled personnel, each accompanied by an archival document.