Memory screens: the racial laws between television and historiography

In recent years, and contrary to the previous decades, the issue of the racial laws adopted by the Fascist regime in Italy has received strong attention, both historiographical, institutional and from the media. This article questions the path of progressive awareness of that crucial mo- ment and how this path of memory is proposed by a central medium such as public television. When and how were the racial laws told to Italians by historical documentaries, debates and Rai fiction? Have the proposed interpretations varied over the decades? By directly analyzing the an- cient and recent "display cases" in the Rai archives, intertwining them with additional documentation and comparing them with the conside- rations of contemporary historiography, the article shows on the one hand the relevance of the television as a main source for the study of the memory of a historical event; on the other hand, the passage from an absolving interpretation of what happened, centered on the support given to Jews ("Italians good people") to the current emphasis on the widespread co-responsibility of Italian society. Finally, it also highlights the presence of an echo between the evolution of historical research and the television representations of the topic.

Keywords: Italian Racial laws, Television, Fascism, Jews, Shoah

Leonardo Campus, Schermi di memoria: le leggi razziali tra televisione e storiografia in "VENTUNESIMO SECOLO" 50/2022, pp 130-161, DOI: 10.3280/XXI2022-050007