Africa: Italian Colonies - THE LEGACY OF FASCIST COLONIAL RACIAL POLICY

Italy was one of the European countries with colonies in Africa during the modern period. Lasting from 1890 to 1941, Italian colonialism in Africa included the presentday countries of Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. Italian colonialism in Africa came to an end with the death of the Italian leader Benito Mussolini, the collapse of the Fascist regime, and the defeat of Italy in World War II. Half a century of Italian colonialism had long-term effects on attitudes towards race and racism in both Italy and its colonies.

Italian colonization of Africa took place during the same period as other European colonization in the region. In many respects, Italian colonial policy was similar to that of other colonizing powers. Italian colonial policy differed, however, in that it was premised more on enhancing the glory and overall international prestige of Italy, rather than on the economic benefits that could be gained from colonies. Italian colonialism was also not guided by religious motives of converting native populations to Christianity. Italian imperialism was later shaped by Fascist doctrines of governance and social policy, which affected methods of administration and treatment of the indigenous African population.

Italy’s colonial experience forced Italians to confront the presence of non-Europeans within the Italian Empire. The presence of black Africans, especially, led some Italians to construct racial hierarchies in which Italians and other Europeans stood at the top, Arabs and North Africans somewhere in the middle, and black Africans at the bottom in terms of rights and privileges. Such racial-ist thinking led some Italians to consider the position of Jews within Italy in a parallel manner, and to place them on this racial hierarchy. Italian attitudes toward Jews, which had previously been generally benign, began to change as a result of African colonization.

Italian colonization can be divided into two periods. The first begins in 1890, with the Italian colonization of Eritrea, and continues with the acquisition of Libya and Somalia, and the invasion and occupation of Ethiopia. The second period begins around 1937, when the occupation of Ethiopia was complete and when Fascist racial policy became more explicit and extreme. This article will examine racial policies in the Italian colonies during both periods and will conclude by noting the impact of the colonial experience on post-imperial Italy.

THE LEGACY OF FASCIST COLONIAL RACIAL POLICY

The greatest legacy of Italian racial policy in its colonies was the rise of anti-Semitism in Italy. Prior to the imposition of Fascist racial policy, there was little anti-Semitism in Italy, and certainly nothing like the hatred of Jews present in Germany. There were indeed many Jewish Fascists, and many anti-Zionist Italian Jews. In 1911 the mayor of Rome was Jewish, and many Italian prime ministers were of Jewish ancestry, as were many senators, professors, and war heroes. Italy gave sanctuary to Jews expelled from Russia and Germany. Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi racial theorist, even denounced what he called the “Judeo-Fascist regime” located in “world-polluting Rome.”

Yet Italy’s colonization in Africa began to draw distinctions between people of different races. Italians began to think of themselves as somehow different from colonized Africans and Arabs, and Fascist doctrine urged them to think themselves superior to the people they had colonized. Allying racism with nationalism and national identity, the Fascist Party motivated Italians to also think of ethnicity, rather than religion or culture, as what separated them from others, thus leading to increasing anti-Semitism in Italy. Though never urgently proactive in attacking Jews as Germans had been, Italians began to see Jews as foreign and alien.

Italy has not yet confronted its colonial past, and issues of racism and anti-Semitism are not commonly discussed and analyzed in the country. Italian colonialism in Africa, motivated largely by the desire to enhance the historic glory of Italy and to help Italy find its “place in the sun” along with other colonial powers, forced Italians to think about racial difference, and many Italians came to accept racial difference to some degree, even though they may have treated their colonial subjects well.