the problem of the plundering of assets…

Author: Silvia Bon

A special thanks from the CDM to Prof. Silva BON, President of the Research Institute of Jewish History of FVG, who has allowed us to publish this rich and detailed research essay of great historical-civil interest, on the Jewish families of Fiume and other locations in the Quarnero. Summary. On the basis of unpublished documentation collected at the State Archives of Fiume (now Croatia) (Prefecture Fund, Bank Funds – in particular the Bank of America and Italy Fund, Cassa di Risparmio di Fiume) I have problematically reconstructed the overall events of the Jewish communities of Fiume and the Province of Carnaro, from the end of the 1920s to the mid-1940s. I was thus able to outline the peculiar characteristics (existence of an Italian Orthodox Community and of an official Community), organizations and structures in the early 1930s and therefore the steps of discrimination of laws and lives in the years of fascist and Nazi persecution. In particular, I have highlighted the documents concerning the movable and immovable properties of the Jews and which allow us to reconstruct the mechanisms of the plundering of assets, starting from the fascist surveys and censuses, a premise and supporting document for the subsequent annihilation of both people and things. ------------- Thanks to the research assignment entrusted to me in 2000 by the "Commission for the reconstruction of the events that characterized the acquisition of assets of Jewish citizens by public and private bodies in Italy", established at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, I was able to enjoy, among other things, the opportunity to work at the Drzavni Arhiv u Rijeci, the State Archives of Rijeka, which is located in Park Nikole Hosta, 2. I would especially like to thank the President of the Commission, the Hon., for the trust placed in me. Tina Anselmi, as well as, among the Commissioners, the prefect Antonio Farrace and Dr. Michael Sarfatti. In this research area I consulted the JU – 6 Rijecka Prefektura Fund and the Funds of the banks operating in the city during the years of fascist and Nazi persecution of the local Jewish community. The latter are used to highlight documents regarding the movable and immovable properties of the Jews and which allow us to reconstruct the mechanisms of the plundering of assets. The second mission, agreed with the Commission, in particular allowed me to carefully search the contents of 20 envelopes from the Prefecture Fund, which I consider fundamental for reconstructing problematically as a whole the events of the Jewish communities of Fiume and the Province of Carnaro from the end of the XNUMXs to the mid-XNUMXs. The literature in Italian, existing today for those years, is, relative to the consistency of the production, not very conspicuous. It is certainly worth mentioning the pioneering work of Teodoro Morgani, Jews of Fiume and Abbazia (1441 – 1945), Rome, Carucci 1979. The interests of historians have only recently been renewed with the multi-voiced work edited by the Society of Fiumani Studies and the Association for Fiumana, Istrian and Dalmatian Culture in Lazio, Il tributo fiumano all'Olocausto, Rome, 1999. Lastly, the critical and operational essay from a bibliographical point of view, by Ester Capuzzo, The end of the Jewish community of Fiume, «Clio», year XXXVI, n. 3 (July – September 2000). Even more recent is the re-proposal by Ester Capuzzo, Notes in the margins of the end of the Jewish community of Fiume, in «Fiume», Journal of Adriatic studies (New Series), year XXI, n. 3, January-June 2001, n. 1 – 6. Some writings by Goffredo Raimo and Marco Coslovich investigated with different approaches, in the early nineties, the figure and the work of Giovanni Palatucci, an official of the Fiume Police Headquarters, who saved many Jews from Nazi deportation and died in Dachau, killed by the Nazis in February 1945. Currently, studies and research are being resumed to reconstruct in scientific terms, as correct as possible, the life of the young native of Campagna, who however has recently also inspired films and documentaries, recognitions and public honors in Israel and in Italy, especially in Avellino. I think it is appropriate to immediately point out, in this regard, that perhaps the figure of Palatucci has been overestimated, in part emphasized, by some scholars in the instrumental desire to find also in the territory, then, first Italian, and then affluent in the Operations Zone of the Adriatic Coast, a counterpart of Schindler or Perlasca. For example, among the documentation I investigated, no mention is made of the official from Fiume. The total silence on Palatucci seems to me implicitly significant and eloquent, even if one could object that the operational fields, Prefecture and Police Headquarters, are different. But in reality during the years of the fascist dictatorship the two bodies were generally very close, especially in repressive investigative practice. This is at least what happened in the "Trieste case"; here they operated in common agreement, perhaps also on the basis of investigations requested or commissioned by the Carabinieri Commands or by municipal officials. In Fiume, the prefects who followed one another, in my opinion, could not have ignored, especially during the Nazi period, the actions of an Italian police officer, while he was carrying out the rescue of hundreds of people, who were fiercely sought, as the Jews were at that time. So let's welcome new research and scientific insights, to ascertain a truth, which seems important to bring to light in its entirety. However, picking up the interrupted thread, given the general state of research, I believe that this first contribution of mine, which I intend to develop further in a subsequent monographic essay, can constitute a further piece, based on unpublished documentary sources, prefectorial and banking, useful for clarifying the contours of the events in Fiume and Quarnera. It is therefore possible to understand the internal, sometimes conflictual problems of the Fiume Community, divided between Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews, through documents found in the Prefecture Fund, the Community secretariat and documents, often the result of investigations and specific, if not downright intrusive, controls by the Police Headquarters, the Prefecture, and the Ministry of the Interior. General Directorate of Cults. These documents (especially the minutes) allow us to know the composition of the Community's taxpayers, through the electoral lists (in the early 338s composed of 22 people), the organizational charts of the members of the Council, the personalities of the presidents (rich in political notes, but also socio-economic and private), of the rabbis, of the extraordinary commissioners, the amount of the population, estimated before the persecutory census of 1938 August 1935 (in 1100, XNUMX people, but destined to increase due to the presence of German and Hungarian fugitives who took refuge in the Province of Carnaro, in Fiume, Abbazia, Laurana, Mattuglie, Volosc). Furthermore, the associative, cultural and political aspects are reconstructed, which group together especially, but not exclusively, young people. This is the Jewish Youth Circle, which later became known as the Jewish Culture Circle, aimed precisely at making knowledge of Jewish culture and language alive, at spreading Zionist thought, and at addressing the more general problems and prospects of Judaism in the 1930s. But the documentary photograph of the Board of Directors, the Statute, the list of members, the activities (organization of conferences, management of a library, Hebrew language courses, gymnastics, entertainment and meetings, which were also reported in the local newspapers) is collected in a file that starts from the mid-Twenties, to conclude in September 1939, with the closure of the Club, which physically leaves the premises of the headquarters, rented to the military garrison that took over. The peculiar characterization of the Jewish community of Fiume is given by the massive presence, numerically in absolute and percentage terms, of Jews considered by the fascist racist legislation as "foreigners", since 1938. Therefore, the procedures for revoking Italian nationality for those who had applied for it after the deadline set on 1 January 1919 were recurrent and multiple (and implied a dense correspondence between the Prefecture and the Ministry of the Interior. Directorate General for Demography and Race, as well as the drafting of different and detailed lists, which indicate who obtains the cancellation of the revocation of citizenship, distinguishing them from those who obtain a contrary or doubtful opinion). Together with these, the bureaucracy examines requests for permanence in the Kingdom, for reinstatement of Italian citizenship and all these files are intertwined with practices that require "discrimination", recognition of "non-belonging to the Jewish race" and authorization to contract marriages with people of foreign nationality. Central, once again, in the history of fascist racial persecution is the implementation of the census of 22 August 1938, which in the Province of Carnaro seems to actually assume absolutely "exemplary" aspects, peculiarities and functions. Perhaps also the presence of the superintendent prefect Temistocle Testa is at the origin and clarifies the harshness of the fallout and the application of the Italian laws, due to his fundamentalist, strongly ideologized direction. Numerous lists were drawn up, starting from the "matrix" one (and the basis of all subsequent investigations) of August 1938. The list of August 22, 1938 includes 405 sheets, in which the Jews of Fiume are listed with their personal data, but also with precise information on their economic conditions. In fact, further annotations specify for each person the possession (or non-possession) of real estate, commercial and/or industrial activities, and in general the state of financial well-being, or the state of penury. Stigmatization involves the use of terms that differentiate the suspects between "stateless Jews", "foreign Jews", "of Jewish race", married (and relationship status) with "Jews". Two subsequent lists contain the names of the Jews present in Fiume on 22 August. These are another 53 people collected in lists, which are called, on the file, supplementary censuses. From this first substantial (and general) blanket investigation, there followed the writing of increasingly detailed and specific lists, which collected data aimed at identifying the owners of Jewish companies and the "type of occupation", that is, the branch of activity in which their work was carried out, which ranged, citing at random or by typology, from the retail trade of haberdashery, to business agencies, to transport companies, to crafts. The list in question, drawn up in alphabetical order, includes 71 people. The list that groups together the freelance professionals indicates the name and surname, paternity, maternity, place and date of birth, marital status, degree of kinship, citizenship, profession (for example, civil engineer, veterinarian, surgeon, solicitor, etc.), residence (i.e. address), annotations (which for the Jews of Fiume consist of the specification of the moment from which residence in Italy starts, i.e. from birth or from a specific date, prior, since the last years of the nineteenth century, or after, January 1919. The people in this list amount to 26. Another list identifies those defined as people employed in “Economic Activities”. In reality, they were company directors and industrialists (including directors of shipping companies, shipping houses, banks, wholesale trade, etc.), 36 in total. A subsequent list identifies Jews employed in public and parastatal institutions. In this case, in addition to the detailed data, collected according to the indicated scheme, the "Annotations" space reports the role played in the individual Institutions, which can be managerial (for example, in the Ministry of Public Works, in the Royal Prefecture, in the Civil Hospital), but also less prestigious (this is how all teachers are reported, starting from elementary school teachers, secretaries, substitutes). This list, of 31 names in total, also includes two soldiers from the National Security Volunteer Militia and three rabbis from the Jewish Community. The socio-economic investigation is completed with the list of owners of buildings "of Jewish race affected by the provision", 19 names in total. The persecutory analysis, minute and detailed, is summarized in a three-page report, which traces a socio-economic cross-section, which groups together the analytical data that strike the Jews, comparing them with the general ones of the inhabitants of the city of Fiume, and producing the specific percentages. It is therefore a brief summary, which elaborates the data collected by the census (and in any case already divided into specific lists, which "normalize" activities, ranks and social roles deemed similar by the mentality of the fascist operator, as has been said). In my opinion, this is a very important document because, in addition to targeting the "foreign" Jews who immigrated after 1919 and who, it is announced, will be removed from all sectors of public life in which they are included, it collects in concise, very concrete and "pressing" terms the investigated news on the local Jewish community. The picture that is thus created counts 1.514 Jews out of a calculated population of 57.200 inhabitants, 24,33/1000 of the population. 307 (18,86/1000) have a residence document after 1919. The attached table lists the commercial licenses (206 out of 1.100) held by Jews, that is, 19/100 of the firms, a figure destined to be reduced to 15/100 (corresponding to 162 firms) with the departure of Jewish immigrants. 10 Jews are engaged in street trading out of 165 street traders, equal to 6,06/100. Industrial companies owned by Jews amount to 18, out of a total of 235 companies, equal to 7,70/100. Of the 679 artisans, 52 are Jews, with a percentage of 7,50/100. Jewish freelancers number 26 out of 257, with a percentage of 10/100. The students removed from the school world are 188 in total, divided as follows: 53 schoolchildren, 116 middle school students, 19 university students. The table homogeneously collects similar activities, counts them numerically, compares them with the general data of the city, dividing them between Public Bodies, Commercial Activities, Industrial Activities, Land and Maritime Transport Companies, Insurance and Credit, Crafts, Freelancers, and further between the roles of owners, managers and employees, covered within the specific activities. Similar (complex) lists from the census of 22 August 1938 are drawn up for the Municipality of Abbazia, and include the people additionally registered on this date and those who immigrated later (out of 346 people in total, 159 remain, because 187 have to leave the Kingdom). A further list of 53 people, "heads of families resulting as Israelites from the census... and who came to Italy after 1 January 1919" groups together the owners of buildings, companies and economic activities in general, resident in Abbazia, with specific indications of their citizenship, of the assets registered in their name or of the economic activities carried out. Extremely detailed information, typewritten CVs of up to 10 – 15 lines, are drawn up by the Municipality of Opatija as an elaboration of the census data. A «description» of the «situation of Jews in public, political, administrative and trade union positions; in commercial activities; in street trading; in industrial activities» (in which 59 people, men and women, are listed according to their religion, nationality, possessions and economic status) is followed by careful statistics. It groups the Community together, dividing it, this time, numerically and in relation to society as a whole. In addition to the data on Jews employed in public, political, administrative and trade union positions (to be precise, only one Jew holds trade union positions), officials apply very specific diversification mechanisms for commercial activities. They note the licenses granted to Jews, comparing them with the total number of licenses, and the Jews "employed", that is, employed, for public establishments, clothing, jewelry, food, drugstores, monopoly goods, "miscellaneous" (commercial activity not better specified), hotels, boarding houses and nursing homes, street trading. For industrial activities they divide into food canning factories, mobile factories, transport factories, bakeries, seaside baths, photographic studios, and tailoring shops. For crafts there are two categories: tailor's workshops, and upholsterer's and mattress makers' workshops. For the liberal professions, a distinction is made between doctors and dentists and engineers and surveyors. It concludes with the number of landowners and wealthy people, and finally a general summary which, out of a total of 508 licenses or category activities, places 99 Jewish owners, 5 "mixed race" owners and 35 "employees". Even for the Jews of the municipality of Laurana, detailed lists were drawn up. The census describes the economic conditions of the registered Jews, of whom 10 are to be considered foreigners. Of the latter, 6 can remain in Italy; 2 foreigners residing abroad have assets in the Municipality. The census distinguishes between "Jews" and "half-breeds", according to legislative indications inspired by racist biological principles. 34 are members of the "Jewish race", of whom 21 will have to abandon the Kingdom. There are 4 stateless persons (males) residing in Lovran. Among the resident foreign Jews, 4 are registered in the permanent population register, 7 in the floating population. Furthermore, the mayor of Laurana also draws up a list of "Jews in commercial and industrial activities" and accompanies it with a statistical table that photographs the "numerical proportional situation of resident Jewish business owners". The identified branch of activity (commerce, industry, professionals, non-professionals) is followed by the "species": hotels and guest houses, bed and breakfasts, clothing, fruit and vegetables, knick-knacks, sales representatives, public establishments; garages; doctors; wealthy people. The data collected in the 1938 census were continuously processed and updated in the following years, especially after Italy's entry into the war, when there was a renewed interest in the "Jewish question". Thus the "General list of members of the Jewish race resident in the province of Carnaro (Fiume, Abbazia, Laurana, Volosca), dated 27 November 1941" amounts to 1.362 people. For the Municipality of Abbazia, investigations are conducted among the foreign Jews residing there and the stateless, and files full of notes on cohabitation and family compositions are drawn up. The executive orders of civil conscription to work pass through the composition of lists that group together Jewish women, born between 1907 and 1925, resident in Fiume, Abbazia, Laurana, distinguishing them from stateless persons and foreigners, in a final total number of 95. The eligible male Jews, together with the stateless persons, are 76, among whom a religious teacher, an engineer and an architect stand out. This complies with the requests of the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of the Interior, Albini, in June 1943, which specifically ordered that a separate report be given for the different categories, extending the data also to include doctors, "agricultural technicians", and all those (owners, managers, sharecroppers, workers) involved in agricultural production. The telegram in question, in addition to these distinctions, contains the handwritten annotations "none", evidently written by Fiume officials. However, on an earlier date, dating back to April of the same year, Prefect Testa compiled a form which highlights in statistical terms the number of those who filed a complaint (216 men; 359 women); of those who were temporarily exempted (11 men; 30 women); of those who were sent to work, permanently and in the same province (49 men; 32 women). The marginal observations specify that many of those reported were later interned. In various sectors, there are bans on supplies of state and parastatal offices and public bodies to Jewish firms; and the dismissal of military officers and employees in state offices. Furthermore, an active "Nucleus for the Jewish Problem" was organised in Fiume, similar to the various Centres for the Jewish Problem which arose in various Italian cities, such as Trieste, Ancona, Florence, Milan. In 1940 the question arose of the repatriation of compatriots liberated from the "concentration camps" (sic! ), to which the Municipality of Clana gives a negative result and informs the Prefecture of Fiume. The persecutory action, during the war years, as has been said, becomes increasingly more aggressive, and so we read the lists of 11 people whose radio sets were confiscated, with the relative registration booklets, and of 443 others, whose names are followed by notes of residence, home, and possession or non-possession, or requisition of the radio set. From a superficial analysis of these documents, briefly described and cited above, it clearly appears that the work of the bureaucracy, of the officials, of the employees, and of the fascist authorities (mayor, police chief, prefect) was flexible with respect to the different realities existing in the microcosm of the Province of Carnaro. The identification of different social and working categories gradually finds a formal adjustment (but also with substantial consequences) in the organizational fantasy of the fascist planners and in the contingent reality of the Jewish communities. This is where the extreme attention for "foreign Jews" comes from, for example the Hungarian ones, a significant part of the community of Fiume (150 names are identified) as well as of Abbazia (here the lists take into account the assets declared after the 1938 census). But that's not all: there is still a duplicate list, copied from a list given by the police commissioner to the prefect, in which, in 30 dense folders, 130 families are listed, that is, the head of the family, plus his wife and any children. The date of the beginning of the residence in Italy is highlighted (there are frequent cases of those who arrive in Fiume following the racist persecutions in Europe, and these are not only Hungarian Jews, but also Polish and Austrian Jews, who stopped in Fiume in 1938 in search of a precarious refuge) and their work activity. Certainly, in this mass of practices, lists, divisions and subdivisions, which dissect the Jewish community of the Province of Carnaro, the lists drawn up by the Municipality of Fiume in November 1943 are particularly chilling (68 people were reported in this way, marked not only by the usual personal data, but also by political information, on possible internment, relations with the PNF, "political conduct", "moral conduct", work activity and more or less well-off economic situation) and by the Municipalities of Abbazia (57 people), Laurana (18 people), Mattuglie (1 person) in February 1944. In this way, one can visualise the instruments of persecution placed at the service of the Nazi occupier in the now established Adriatic Coast. There is no doubt about the use the Germans make of these long, very specific lists for the purposes of the "final solution of the Jewish problem." Even the memory, recovered through an interview, of a Jew from Fiume, Maddalena Werczler, of Hungarian origin, whose name appears several times in various fascist lists, together with that of her family members, can constitute precious material for the reconstruction of the events in Fiume. Conscripted as a teenager and initially assigned to humiliating cleaning jobs at the municipal slaughterhouse, a situation that provoked the indignant reaction of her fellow citizens, after 8 September 1943, she attempted to escape to Switzerland together with her family. Hit twice by refoulement at the border, she took refuge in Florence, where she somehow tried to survive, obtaining false documents. At the third attempt, from Milan, he was saved in the Swiss Confederation. Today she is a member of the Jewish Community of Trieste, which is currently recovering and re-establishing relations with the nearby Community of Zagreb, on which the Rijeka Community also depends, which is however composed of people who survived the Holocaust elsewhere, and then settled in Rijeka. The community of the Province of Carnaro, resident here in the 1930s, was swept away by the violence of fascist and Nazi persecution. As regards the economic question of Jewish assets, both movable and immovable, and specifically professional and generally working activities, such as to allow for autonomous support by the owners, in the years 1938 – July 1943, corresponding to a more precise promulgation of laws, circulars, regulations by the leaders of the fascist dictatorial state, it is necessary to refer to the documentary part found in the Bank Funds. But there are also multiple citations of documents, found in the envelopes, specified in the note, of the Prefecture Fund, and in any case photocopied by me, which refer to the specific problem of the spoliation of assets. These documents were produced by the fascist bureaucracy, under the supervision of the prefect Temistocle Testa (from 20 February 1938 until 1 February 1943) and Agostino Podestà (retired for service reasons on 20 August 1943). These are executive responses to ministerial orders, but also personal initiatives, motivated by excessive zeal or rather by unconditional sharing of the racist ideology and defense of the "interests" of the state. The typology of the documents examined responds to an ordering mentality, whereby it is above all the long, diversified lists, repeatedly renewed in a search, I would say obsessive, for exhaustiveness and completeness, that provide information, in addition to personal, demographic, but also on the economic and social status of the suspects. In this case the use of documents becomes rather complex, it gets lost in streams that seem meticulous, in annotations that are sometimes sparse and minute, but the usefulness, for the purposes of specific research, still seems important, even if it requires a different reading, which assembles the usable data, the object of interest. Putting the various information collected into relation allows us to reconstruct a complex and articulated socio-economic picture of the Jewish community of the Province of Carnaro, which can also constitute the skeleton of a research that answers broader or different questions, with respect to the purely economic ones. There is a lack of documents that deal in a discursive manner with the "Jewish problem" and in particular with the economic question during the years of the fascist dictatorship, with the exception of a compact series of four documents, to be precise coded telegrams, drawn up by the prefect Testa in the first half of September 1938, and sent to the Ministry of Exchange and Currency and to the Ministry of the Interior Cabinet and General Directorate of the PS. The telegrams, which bear the same number 2993 and are written in daily temporal succession, from 10 to 14 September, are collected in a file «Pro – memoria», addressed to the chief of police Bocchini – Ministry of the Interior – Rome, on the prefect's headed paper. The subject is "The removal of currency abroad by Jews." The general tone of the documents is strongly inquisitorial. First of all, the initiative for the correspondence comes from Fiume. The Chief of Police immediately responded to the first telegram-letter, by return mail, given the interest of the subject being discussed. Prefect Testa initially refers to "further provisions for the Jews" and says he is "concerned about the particular situation in this area where the percentage is among the highest in Italy while there are many who came to the Kingdom after 1 January 1919 who own property and are in comfortable conditions". He announced that he had conferred confidentially with the directors of the banks "to be informed of any movements and exceptional withdrawals of deposits", in the expectation that "those who have deposits in the banks will try to withdraw them by also withdrawing valuable securities or foreign currency from the safety deposit boxes". Since the owners of buildings and properties have begun negotiations to sell them, the prefect specifies that he has already collected an exact list of all the properties of buildings and companies, as well as the economic activities of the Jews "in order to be able to follow them confidentially in the event of possible sales". To avoid any possible misunderstandings, he added: "All this is purely precautionary, pending provisions on the matter." A further factor, considered by the prefect to be of considerable importance, is the removal of currency, securities and valuables abroad, more specifically to the neighbouring Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The official's concern is so great that he proposes to "issue, if there are no special difficulties, a currency that is only valid abroad" in order to avoid an "exceptional exodus" or to "prevent the increase beyond the border of the so-called black market that could buy up Italian currency, especially small denomination smuggled currency". In the exchange of letters, which follows this first strong warning from the prefect, Testa specifies that he has reported his suspicions to the Governor of the Bank of Italy and that he has contacted the representatives of the Bank of Italy and all the directors of the banking institutions in the province. The latter, after having mentioned the request for one and a half million lire in small denomination notes, a sum considered as a "normal request", responded negatively to the prefect's initiative, opposing the order received from their general directors "not to give any information on the withdrawals". Testa does not give up, he holds his orders, to have the possibility of reporting extraordinary withdrawals. He therefore confers with the director of the Bank of Italy in Rijeka, who promises a rigorous application of the prefectural regulations. Furthermore, the prefect "severely" calls upon the interim commander of the Finance Division, to monitor and answer for the controls on small vessels in the free zone facing the port. Some Jews are thus searched from time to time, among the very many holders (about 50.000) of the border pass. In the telegram-letter of 12 September, he exemplifies investigations carried out in Abbazia «on a certain Kungler», found in possession of 50.000 lire, precious items and gold, and informs the Ministry of small sales and «large alienations which will undoubtedly amount to several million». Testa explicitly and forcefully requests from Rome "provisions on the matter" and specifies that for days now he has distributed lists of suspected Jewish people to the local control bodies. It provides for all possible ways out, taken or possible by the persecuted, such as the "payment of non-existent debts to Aryans in order to gain the time necessary to transport the currency abroad". He proposes the introduction of a provision that "prescribes prior authorization for all residents in the Kingdom to purchase Jewish property, or at least the reporting" of the transaction. The prefect's inquisitorial insistence found an answer in the meeting of 14 September 1938, called by him, in which the senior inspector of Customs participated. Concerns about the delicate situation and the surveillance of the border are confirmed and provisions are requested "for a connection between Banking Institutes and the Bank of Italy and the bodies responsible for surveillance". The prefect complains that the banks have limited themselves to requesting the "name list of Jews who have currency deposits", evidently exceeding the limits permitted by the latest regulations. It complies with and approves Bocchini's note, which speaks of a strong influx of Italian lira into Switzerland, and therefore once again clearly requests "a preventive measure by immediately giving clear instructions on what conduct should be adopted with regard to the delivery of the securities deposited at the Banks". In practice, Temistocle Testa asks to cancel banking secrecy and to introduce as soon as possible severe provisions and control measures regarding the "elimination of assets and purchase of valuables" by Jews. The inquisitorial concerns of the fascist prefect regarding "Jewish property", so clearly and violently expressed as early as September 1938, found explicit and concrete application after 8 September 1943 in the Italian Social Republic. Specifically, Mussolini's decree of 4 January 1944, which through the Ministry of Finance. General Directorate for Personnel and General Affairs, is passed to the heads of the Provinces, the Finance Superintendents, the Real Estate Management and Liquidation Agency (EGELI), has as its object «Jewish assets» and concerns «modifications to the provisions relating to the assets and activities of persons of the Jewish race», in the matter of confiscation of movable and immovable assets. In the north-eastern region the situation is complicated and aggravated by the establishment of the Adriatisches Kuestenland, which also includes the Provinz Quarnero in Fiume, governed by a deutsche berater, who answers to the orders of the supreme commissioner Rainer, resident in Trieste. Thus, on the one hand, the RSI officials took action and applied the decree law of January 1944. For example, we can trace correspondence between the Finance Office of Florence and that of Fiume, dated 28 January 1944, to ascertain the real estate assets "remaining freely available" to Italian citizens "of Jewish race", consisting of buildings and apartments owned in Florence and Fiume, reconstructing practices verified by the Technical Treasury Office of Florence, dated 30 June 1940. Among other things, the superintendent of Fiume, L. Matarazzi asks the prefect for "a list of the Jews of this Province in order to give the undersigned the possibility of complying with the provisions of the aforementioned legislative decree". But already at the beginning of April 1944, the prefect Alessandro Spalatin (lawyer, advisor to the section of the Court of Appeal of Fiume, in office from 29 October 1943 until April 1945, and successor to the senator Riccardo Gigante, appointed by the German authorities on 21 September 1943) communicated to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the RSI that «the Supreme Commissioner for the Operations Zone of the Adriatic Coast has taken upon himself the care of the Jewish assets and has established his own offices for this purpose». The prefect therefore declares himself "unable to provide the information requested" regarding movable and immovable property, securities, assets, debts attributable to "persons of the Jewish race". The prefect responds in the same way to the injunctions of the Istituto di Credito Fondiario delle Venezie. EGELI Real Estate Management and Sales Section and to the telegrams from Minister Buffarini of May - June 1944. However, the bureaucratic procedures initiated by joint stock companies located in the RSI (for example the Compagnia Imprese Elettriche Liguri of Genoa, the “Italcementi”). Fabbriche Riunite Cemento of Bergamo, the Montecatini. General Society for the Mining and Chemical Industry of Milan) are addressed to the Prefect of Fiume «to comply with the necessary accuracy with the reporting of social shares registered in the name of persons belonging to the Jewish race» and ask to be sent «a copy of the list of persons of the Jewish race resident in this Province». So much so that the Republican Prefecture of Carnaro filled out a typewritten form with the subject "Sending copies of the list of Jews" to comply with the requests, and invited people to "pay by money order, made out to the Republican Prefecture of Fiume, the sum of £500 as a deposit for the cost of copies of the list in question which includes approximately 1.200 names". But the conflict of interests between RSI officials, who wanted to apply the decree law of January 1944, and the German occupier emerged from the very beginning. I have found a German document, in my opinion extremely important, because for example it does not exist in the Prefecture Cabinet Fund of the State Archives of Trieste, dated 27 April 1944 on headed paper of the deutsche berater, the German consultant. This is the response to the prefect's communication dated 28 January 1944 and concerns "Assets of Jews and enemies. Seizure measures". The document (translated from German) states verbatim: “I hereby inform you that with regard to the property of Jews and enemies in the Operational Zones, our instructions have been issued and that all related matters will be dealt with directly by the German Police offices.” The document is signed on behalf of Dr. Rassmann and refers to the office –section II/ Dr. R/ Ha/1729 . What seems remarkable to me is the direct style, the certainty with which the German official claims his actions and informs the prefect, who appears to be in a clearly subordinate position, in fact totally deprived of authority. Thus I traced the prefect's minutes, dated June 1944 and January 1945, addressed to the "German Consultant", concerning the "Care of the Jewish heritage". These are only two documents, but they once again clearly show the unbalanced relationship between the occupying ally and the high-level officials of the RSI. In the Adriatic coast, and of course in the Kvarner Province, German laws apply. Banks, such as Banca Commerciale Italiana, are adapting to this situation. Fiume Branch and Abbazia Agency, and the Bank of Naples. Fiume branch. The extensive document is important, a list of names of Jews with their relative "Credits" expressed in lire, of the Banca Commerciale Italiana, which gives the balances as of 29 February 1944 of the current accounts of correspondents, of the "nominative" savings books, of the accounts with fixed-denomination cheques, of the funds available, of the current accounts in foreign currency, of the funds available in foreign currency, of the securities on deposit for "custody", of the safety deposit boxes, and finally of the "Debits". Indeed, the transmitted list also includes a company owned by an Italian citizen, which was lifted from the blockade in June 1944. The prefect immediately informs the German consultant of this, demonstrating, once again, who holds the power. Again, in May 1944, the Bank of Naples turned to the prefect, asking him to intervene with good offices in favor of Italian interests and to assert them before the supreme commissioner Rainer. This is a dispute between companies, one of which is Jewish-owned, which has not yet been resolved «although we followed up the verbal statement with a detailed report to the SS. Police and SD of Sussak». The document concludes verbatim “Pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 2 of 4 January XNUMX Jewish liabilities in the territories of the Italian Social Republic are assumed by the Real Estate Management and Liquidation Agency, whose jurisdiction does not extend to the Operations Zone of the Adriatic Coast, where the German Supreme Commissioner has reserved for himself the care of the assets of names belonging to the Jewish race, thus far ordering the cessation of activities without providing in any way for the settlement of liabilities". To complete the documentary analysis on the issue of "Jewish assets" it is appropriate to make some direct references to the operations of the banks in the Province of Carnaro. So it is for the Bank of America and Italy. Abbey Agency. Fund A 1. The “Jewish Assets” file contains almost a hundred documents, covering the period from 24 November 1943 to 18 April 1945. It contains internal circulars of the Bank of Italy; provisions on matters of fascist (RSI) and Nazi origin (Adriatic Coast Operations Zone); practices identifiable by individual names; lists of people identified as "Jews", whose bank deposits are confiscated; subversive provisions of Jewish assets, which reverse current accounts in the name of Jews and pay them by means of bank transfers to the current account of the Reichskreditkassa of Fiume, which operates on behalf of and within the scope of the Adriatic Coast Operations Zone, with headquarters in Trieste. The material, briefly described, allows us to reconstruct the mechanism of the plundering of bank assets in its general lines and as a whole, and at the same time to identify specific cases of plundering. In November 1943 the commander of the Security Police and the SD of the Operations Zone of the Adriatic Coast orders the blocking and seizure, with immediate effect, of all valuables belonging to Jews that were in deposits, however constituted (current accounts, savings books, securities, open and closed deposits, safety deposit boxes, etc. ) at credit institutions. The identification of these assets is carried out through the provincial branches of the Bank of Italy, within the scope of the supervisory powers that it exercises over credit institutions. However, the whole matter gives rise to many difficulties in its application, as in the case of bearer passbooks not marked with the name and surname of the owner. Meanwhile, other difficulties arose in the territory of the RSI, where refugees from the South had difficulty proving that they did not belong to the "Jewish race". In the Adriatic coast, the “Duce’s decree” of 4 January 1944, published at no. 6 of the Official Journal, concerning the matter of Jewish assets. The Nazi authorities proceeded with extreme rigidity in the Adriatic coast. In May 1944, they blocked, with immediate effect, all savings books not marked with the name and surname of the owner. Those interested who wish to obtain a refund will be responsible for going to the Security Police (SIPO) or to the SD to obtain an unblocking declaration (gepruft und freigegeben...), duly signed by the Meister der Schupo or the Revieroberwachtmeister d. Sch. . Police control also extends to the case of the execution of Jewish wills, as occurred in the case of the deceased Giacomo Kurz, from Abbazia. Probably driven by demagogic motivations, the Nazis allowed a testamentary provision to be implemented in favour of the Municipality of Abbazia, which enjoyed a legacy of £10.000. The testamentary provision provided that the sum in question was to be donated by the mayor of Abbazia for welfare purposes. There is no shortage of cases of speculation by the Bank on the effects of Jewish property: the "profit and loss" account is in any case well present to the officials, who take care, it is appropriate to say down to the last lira, of the interests of the institution they represent. Thus, at the beginning of 1944, the Abbazia (Fiume) Agency of the Bank of America and Italy still appeared as the issuing bank of a bearer passbook formally in the hands of the Jewish Community, with a balance, as of 30 September 1943, of £45.026,30. On March 20, 1944, the Bank of America and Italy from Trieste took care to inform its branch in Abbazia that the same booklet should no longer benefit from the special rate for restricted booklets, starting from September 30, 1943. In fact, due to the freezing of Jewish assets, the payment of the relevant amount into the account of the "German Authorities" could be requested at any moment, and therefore the sum was no longer to be considered restricted, but free. This assessment resulted in a lower interest rate. Up until the last moment, up to a few days before the Yugoslav People's Army invaded the main cities of Venezia Giulia, the banks exchanged their correspondence with the German occupation authorities, to ensure their punctual fulfillment of the instructions received in the delicate matter of Jewish assets. However, things do not always go the way the Nazis wanted, as in the case of the seizure of the assets of Romy de Frida, a resident of Abbazia, who was the owner of a deposit of 2.650 dollars at the Bank of America and Italy (Trieste branch), but this fund had already been transferred to the correspondent of the Bank of New York, where the American authorities proceeded to block it, making it therefore unavailable. In other cases, however, the deposits owned by Jews were forcibly credited to the Reichskreditkasse, in the account “Der deutsche Berater – Abteilung Finanzen, Referat Vermogensverwertung” in Fiume. The documents now found in the Rijeka Archives demonstrate how the Nazis, in addition to raids, made use of “legal channels”: that is, they made use of the Bank of Italy and its powers of supervision over credit institutions. It is in fact the Bank of Italy that gives instructions on how to proceed. In this context, the plundering of bearer bonds takes place. The amount is transferred, by bank transfer, to the account of the “Der deutsche Berater” (German advisor), at the Reichskreditkasse, which has its various branches in various Italian cities. The operation is called: Department R II (R II. (Az.: 457 ). In the Cassa di Risparmio di Fiume Fund, Envelope F 181 contains paper headed “Seizure of Jewish assets. Practice of the Abbey Branch”. It deals with the problem of forced safety deposit boxes, reporting the list of names that are subject to seizure and the quantification of the values ​​contained in the savings books. It also contains the list, sent to the Bank of Italy in Fiume, dated 25 November 1943, of the existing deposits, which are considered blocked, belonging to Italian and foreign Jews. These include checking accounts, savings deposits, and safety deposit boxes. In March 1945, on 13 March, the SS Polizei of Fiume proceeded to force open n. 5 boxes, whose tenants are of the "Jewish race". The work was carried out by the Skull Company from Rijeka. One of the names on the forced boxes corresponded to the Jewish Community. The blacksmith is a certain Jerina from Fiume. The examination of the contents was carried out by the SS Polizei Mr. Weiland and the interpreter Mr. Klinz Godfrey of Abbey. On March 30, 1945, with a transfer from the Cassa di Risparmio di Fiume to the account of the Reichkreditkasse, der Deutsche Berater fur die Provinz Quarnero in Fiume. Finance Content Ref. Vermogenverwertung, Fiume, four savings books issued by the Abbazia branch, belonging to Jewish names and blocked since 24 November 1943, are extinguished, based on a seizure decree of the Bank of Italy, Fiume. The amount is 9.191.35 lire and is confiscated by the SIPO and the SD of the Operationszone “Adriatisches Kuestenland” Trieste, within the framework of the operation called R II. Az: 103. As regards the forced safe deposit boxes, a Report details the operation, as described in detail by the employees present in the office on 5 February 1945, the day of the forced opening. However, they refused to sign the declaration that the contents of the boxes were worthless, since they had not witnessed their opening, and so as not to be accused of co-responsibility. Still on 5 April 1945 the Savings Bank of Fiume. The Abbazia branch proceeds with the extinction of three savings books (the amount is £20.601.30), with an operation signed R II. Az: 665. In conclusion, it seems to me that this first documentary survey has confirmed a persecutory process with a peculiar connotation in the north-eastern Italian territory. Thus in the Province of Carnaro as in Trieste, united in the Adriatic Coast since September 1943, the events of the Jews living there present aspects, conditioned by procedural and directive mentalities, by local initiatives and legislative applications, which are strongly limiting and have dramatic consequences. Here I have focused my interest on the socio-economic issue and the plundering of assets. At a later stage I will fully develop these first descriptive lines of the fascist persecution and physical destruction, carried out by the Nazis, of the Jewish communities of Carnaro. CURRICULUM Silva Bon, a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the Regional Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a scholar of contemporary history, has dealt with the problem of anti-Semitism, racial persecution, and their repercussions on the North-Eastern reality, in the 1930s and 1940s. He recently published The Jews in Trieste. Identity, persecution, answers. 1930 – 1945, IRSML – LEG, Gorizia 2000. He collaborated in the research and drafting of various parts of the Commission for the reconstruction of the events that characterized the acquisition of Jewish citizens' assets by public and private organizations in Italy, General Report, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Rome 2001. HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF RIJEKA. REPORT ON THE ACTIVITY CARRIED OUT. Prefecture of Fiume. County Hall. 1924 – 1945. The envelopes concerning the Jewish community of Fiume and the Province of Quarnero, established after 8 September 1943, governed by a Deutsche Berater, dependent on the Occupation Zone of the Adriatic Coast, under the orders of the supreme commissioner Rainer, based in Trieste, are the following: Br. 98/86 – 1964 from Envelope 262 to Envelope 267. Defense of the race 1938 – 1944. (in particular, Envelope 264 contains the papers of the Nucleus for Jewish Studies, trustee Bruno Selles 1943 – 1944; I – 1/E – 12 Situation and treatment of people of the Jewish race 1943 – 1944) I – 1/E – 12 Census of discharged officers of the Jewish race 1939 Census of Jews 1938 – 1939 Census of Jews revised 1942; Envelope 267 contains the discrimination practices). Envelope 344. I – 11 – 7 Non-Catholic cults ( 1939 – 1942 ) I – 11 – 7/a Israelite Community and Orthodox Israelite Union of Fiume ( 1939 – 1942 ) I – 11 – 7/b Israelite Community and Orthodox Israelite Union of Abbazia ( 1934 – 1942 ) I – 11 – 7/c Affairs relating to the Israelite cult ( 1940 – 1942 ). Envelope 350 I – 16/A 4 Various publications (1938 – 1945), including “La difesa della stirpe”, monthly magazine, 1938. Envelope 357 I – 16/D – 4/6 Payment of tourist taxes for (sic) a group of Jewish emigrants (1938). Bro. 98/8 c – 1964 Envelope 676 1 – 2 – 50 Political confined. Interned in concentration camps 1941/1942 – 1945. From Envelope 677 to Envelope 679 1 – 2 – 51 Defense of the race. General Affairs 1938 – 1935. From Envelope 680 to Envelope 692 Radio equipment. Civil conscription of Jews 1943. Resident lists. Property belonging to citizens of the Jewish race – tax evasion 1944. 1 – 2 – 51 Care of the Jewish heritage 1945 Census General lists of residents in the Province of Carnaro 1941. Envelope 693 1 – 2 – 52 Administration of confiscated assets 1938 – 1944. Bro. 98/8 d – 1964 National Fascist Party Envelope 2228 Group of university fascists 1940 – 1943. From Envelope 2186 to Envelope 2189 Extraordinary Commissioner for the territories of Susak – Krk in Sussa 1943 –1944. Envelope 2190 Civil Intendancy for the territories of Fiume and Kupa – Sussa. Envelopes 2191 and 2192 Accounting Office. Envelope 2198 Morning reports from the Police Headquarters 1935 – 1938, 1939. Envelope 2199 Morning reports from the Police Headquarters 1940 – 1944. The documents contained in this Fund allow a global reconstruction of the history of the Community of Fiume, of Abbazia, of the Province of Carnaro, with specific and in-depth references to the question of the plundering of Jewish property. I was unable to view the Fund in this immediate time frame due to a factual impediment on the part of the director of the Archive. In fact, the Envelopes mentioned are about to be transported to a new location and the Archive is undergoing renovation and modernization. However, I have agreed with the director of the Archives a future visit to Fiume, to consult the Prefecture Fund, after a telephone communication, which will ensure the availability of the Fund itself. On May 3, 2000, archivist Boris Zakosek confirmed to me that the Prefecture Fund will be available for consultation from the second half of this month. I propose to the President of the Commission an extension of my mandate and a second mission to Rijeka, in case the collection of the listed documents is deemed to be a matter of interest and further specific investigation. In my opinion, the papers in question can constitute an important basis for a thorough reconstruction of the problem. In the Rijeka Archives, it is possible to consult the Funds of the banks operating in the city during the years of fascist and Nazi persecution of the local Jewish community. Bank of Rome. Fiume branch. R 10 Envelope R 13 contains various documents on confiscations in the years 1943 – 1945. There are no documents highlighted regarding the movable or immovable properties of the Jews. The research becomes widespread and is based on intuitions or findings, deducible from the surnames believed to be of Jewish origin, which do not seem scientifically correct to me. Bank of Naples. Fiume branch. N 15 Italian Credit. Fiume branch. C 10 Both collections do not specifically address the issue of the plundering of Jewish property in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs, during the fascist and Nazi persecution. Fiume Savings Bank. F F 143 Committee Minutes Book. 1940 - 1941 (Internal deliberations). F 144 Committee Minutes Book. 1941 - 1943 F 145 Committee Minutes Book. 1943 – 1945 F 146 Minutes Book of the Board of Auditors. 1936 – 1939 F 155 Minutes Book of the Board of Directors. F 156, ditto. 1937 – 1938 (contains loan applications, granted to Jews in 1938. The impression is that the Jews of Fiume in these years did not emigrate in as many numbers as in Trieste. Perhaps a different perception of danger makes them act differently.) F 157, ditto. 1940 – 1942 (check the sales of houses and lands in the years 1938 – 1942, there are no Jewish signs, nor do there appear to be any particular sales with favorable realisations for the buyer) F 158, idem. Two minutes from 1944-1945, plus a page from a directory headed by the Israelite community (n. 9067 45 ) were photocopied from page 115 to page 164 F 158 a Presidential deliberations. 1936 – 1939 All these envelopes have been searched, with little success, for the purposes of ongoing research. I further noted: F 31 Kuverte AZ Venetofondiario, Verona (unpaid, unpaid account) F 33 F 1 Kartoni AZ I. F 1 A idem I. and III. F 2 Kuverte AZ F 188 Deposit of foreign and precious securities F 195 Venetofondiario Verona mortgages 1937 – 1040 F 196 idem 1940 – 1943 F 197 idem 1940 – 1947. These envelopes may be subject to further verification during the next visit to the Rijeka Archives, at the end of June 2000.