Hunting Jewish Goods in a Provincial Town: The Case of Empoli (Firenze)

«1316 coats and 323 raincoats manufactured with the fabric provided by the Jewi-­ sh Company G. Spizzichino & C. in Rome, now Magazzini S. Carlo» lie waiting to be seized in the warehouses of the Scardigli company in Empoli, the prefecture of Floren-­ ce points out with extreme accuracy on January 24, 1944. On February 7 of that same year, goods from another company in Empoli, of which a Jew in Rome is a member, would be seized. On December 16, 1943, instead, all the goods belonging to Vittorio Misul, one of the few Jews in Empoli, in the province of Florence, during WWII, had been put in a wooden crate. A Jewish community in Empoli has long since disappea-­ red, as in 1570 the ghetto in Florence was created. When in 1938 antisemitic laws were issued by Fascist Italy only two Jewish families were living in Empoli: that of the worker Umberto Foà and that of Leonardo Lusena, a retired army general and a mem-­ ber of the Directory of the local Fascio. However, the presence in Florence of a uni-­ cum in the Italian scene, the so-­called Office for Jewish Affairs, led since December 21, 1943 by Martelloni, made every corner of the Florentine province – Empoli inclu-­ ded – subdued to a thorough search for Jewish goods, with the assistance of, and so-­ metimes in opposition to, the various realities entitled with the anti-­Jewish persecu-­ tion: German occupying forces, Italian Police, Carabinieri, National Republican Guard and also the local Fascist militia known as Banda Carità.

Keywords: anti-­Jewish Persecution, Italian Racial Laws, Antisemitism, Office for Jewish Affairs, Florence, Empoli.

Samuela Marconcini, Caccia ai beni degli ebrei in una cittadina di provincia: il caso di Empoli (Firenze) in "STORIA URBANA " 172/2022, pp 135-152, DOI: 10.3280/SU2022-172007