Folder n° 15, file n° 18 (Razza ebraica. Norme)

In this file there are documents related to different issues, of which I will offer a brief description, not respecting the chronological order, but rather the way they are kept in the folder. On January 17th, 1944, the head of the province of Mantua, Alessandro Bocchio, requested the local authorities (“podestà” and “commissari prefettizi”) a full list of the houses owned by Jews (except the “mixed ones”), with the names of the owner and those actually living inside the houses or “occupying” them at the moment. On January 14th, 1944, Alessandro Bocchio sent the Germanic Military Command in Brescia a list of the Jews who were resident in the province of Mantua, and a list of those who were absent at that moment. In January 1944, every municipality of the province of Mantua answered to the request made by Bocchio and sent a list of the houses owned by Jews indicating the names of the people living inside them. On November 4th, 1943, the Militärkommandantur in Brescia urges the Prefecture in Mantua to send immediately a list of the Jews resident in the province of Mantua, as already requested on October, 28th, 1943. The request made by the Militärkommandantur in Brescia on October, 28th, 1943, also contains the definition of “Jews”: 1. People who belonged or had belonged to Jewish religion; 2. People who had at least 3 fully Jewish grandparents, 3. People who had 2 fully Jewish grandparents and were married to a Jew (in German). On January 7th, 1944, a first list of houses owned by Jews or by Jewish corporate bodies in Mantua was sent to the Germanic Military Command. Then, there is a copy of the newspaper “Welt-Dienst” (Servizio Mondiale, in Italian), with several articles of anti-Jewish propaganda (January 1944). On December 12th, 1944, the Minister Giovanni Preziosi, “Ispettore generale per la razza” (General Inspector for the Race), indicates Dr. Giovanni Pestalozza as the responsible for the so-called “Centri per la razza” (Centres for the Race) in Mantua. Then, there are documents of Northern Italian firms and companies requesting from Mantua Prefecture a list with the names of the resident Jews, in order to find out whether they might be the owners of one or more shares (“azioni”) of the firms and companies themselves (around June-September 1944). Circular letters of the “Ministero dell’Interno” (Home Secretary, May 1944) with practical explanations of the decrees issued by Mussolini in January, 1944, about Jewish belongings’ confiscation. Exchange of letters among the head of the province of Mantua and Giovanni Martelloni, responsible of the “Ufficio per gli affari ebraici” (Office for Jewish Affairs) in Florence (March-May 1944), related to a woman, Alina Forti, who was born in Bozzolo (Mantua) but was living in San Gimignano (Siena): although she had been baptized since her childhood and her mother was “arian”, could she be considered “of Jewish race”, as her father was Jewish?