865.4016/97: Telegram
The Chargé in Italy ( Reed ) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 12—10 a.m.]
332. Embassy’s telegram No. 289, October 7, noon and despatch No. 1100 of October 7.40 The text of the decree embodying the decisions of the Grand Council on the racial question had been approved by the Council of Ministers and published in the press November 11. An early publication in the Official Gazette is expected.
Among the additions to the provisions already published are the following:
With respect to the prohibitions relating to mixed marriages, a provision has been inserted which will for a period of 3 months permit the Ministry of the Interior to grant exemption in special cases to the regulation forbidding the marriage of governmental and public employees with Aryan foreigners. It is further provided that any priest or civil registry official who performs a marriage contrary to the provisions [Page 601] of the decree is liable to civil penalties and a fine and the marriage shall be considered null and void.
With respect to the status of Jews, all persons of the Jewish race are required to be registered on the civil register and in addition to the restrictions on employment already published Jews may not be employed in the civil and military administrations of the state, in banks, in insurance companies, in provincial communal and municipal entities or in Government controlled organizations, or employ Italian domestic servants of the Aryan race. Italian Jews may not be employed as instructors of non-Jewish minor children or own rural land valued at more than 5,000 lire or buildings appraised at more than 20,000 lire or own any concern declared to be of interest to national defense. Although these last provisions apply only to Italian Jews there is no reason to believe that more favorable treatment will be granted foreigners of the Jewish race. Full text by mail.
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- Despatch not printed.↩