Giuseppe Bottai, the Racial Laws of 1938 and Italian–German relations

Abstract

ABSTRACT D’Elia’s article casts new light on the controversial issue of Giuseppe Bottai’s approach to the so-called ‘Jewish question’. It is known that Bottai, serving as Fascist Italy’s Minister of National Education when the 1938 Racial Laws were enacted, worked determinedly for them to be rigorously implemented in the education sector. However, there is no consensus among scholars on the reasons that drove him to approve the racial policy of Italian Fascism, considering that he had never declared himself in favour of antisemitism before 1938. Was his approach dictated by opportunism and self-interest, that is, by the concern not to be politically sidelined? Or was it influenced by the rumours circulating in Nazi circles intending to discredit him as an opponent of the racial campaign, or even as being of Jewish descent? Bottai’s support of the Rome–Berlin Axis raises similar questions since he was not a Nazi sympathizer. Was such a decision made merely due to political calculation? Based on unpublished documents, this article shows, first, that Nazi officials regarded Bottai as a valuable partner and were keen to silence the rumours about his alleged Jewish ancestry; and, second, that Bottai, for his part, was not reluctant to cooperate with representatives of Italy’s German ally on racial issues and, since 1938, began considering racism a key factor in strengthening Italian-German relations. Moreover, this article argues that Bottai’s acceptance of the Axis alliance and the Fascist racial policy can reasonably be explained by taking into account his leftist Fascist ideology, marked by strong anti-bourgeois beliefs. He saw both the antisemitic turn of Mussolini’s regime and Italy’s alignment with Germany as opportunities to revitalize Fascism, driving it to embrace a revolutionary and totalitarian course.