865.4016/37: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 29—9:15 a.m.]
187. In conversation which I had yesterday with Ciano31 he admitted that there had been a change in the Government’s attitude toward the Jews since we had last discussed the subject, see my despatch No. 450 of June 25, 1937.32 He said that the Government had decided to take measures to preserve the purity of the Italian civilian throughout the Empire. The movement originated from the necessity of keeping the Italian and black races apart in Ethiopia in order to prevent miscegenation which had had such bad results in the Portuguese and French Colonies. The movement, he said, was therefore an empire movement and the Jewish race which had always regarded itself as a separate race also came into the picture. I remarked that it seemed curious that it should now seem necessary to discriminate against a small population which had lived here more than 2,000 years without greatly increasing in numbers. Ciano replied that while there had been only 40 to 50 thousand Italian Jews there was now an illegal and surreptitious infiltration of Jews from Rumania, Austria and other parts of Europe which the Italian Government was powerless to prevent by ordinary means. He said that if this situation was left unremedied Italy would within 5 years find itself harboring at least half a million foreign Jews. Accordingly the Italian Government was resolved to discourage this immigration by making it clear to the Jews that Italy does not want them. In response to my inquiry as to just what measures the Italian Government had in contemplation [Page 588] in regard to Jews already in Italy Ciano said that there was to be no “persecution”. These Jews were to be permitted to reside peacefully in Italy and their property would be respected. However, they would not henceforth be allowed to have any “political or social influence” in Italian life and by that he meant that no Jewish newspapers would be permitted to circulate, no Jewish literature would be printed and Jewish theaters would be forbidden.
I asked Ciano not to forget that the unfortunate feeling in America against Germany was very largely the result of German persecutions and I expressed strongly the hope that nothing would be done here to give the impression that the Italian Jews were in fact being persecuted.
Ciano again emphasized that the racial movement now taking place was “an empire movement” and was not directed specifically against the Jews but was designed to preserve the purity of the Italian race.