Italian Jewish leaders honor Nazi-deported Carabinieri force

Deportation took place days before the Nazis sent more than 1,000 Roman Jews to Auschwitz

By JTA 9 October 2013, 10:51 am

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German and Italian brass in Rome, 1940. (photo credit: CC BY-SA Bundesarchiv, Bild 121-2051, Wikimedia Common)

ROME – Italy’s Jewish leaders paid tribute to as many as 2,500 anti-fascist Carabinieri military police deported to death camps by the Nazis in 1943.

Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni and the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Renzo Gattegna, were among the leaders who participated in a ceremony held at the Carabinieri barracks in Rome on Monday marking the 70th anniversary of the deportation on Oct. 7, 1943.

The Carabinieri, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities said in a statement, “did not bow their heads before Nazi-fascism.”

The deportation of the Carabinieri, long neglected by historians, took place nine days before the Nazi occupiers rounded up more than 1,000 Roman Jews and deported them to Auschwitz.

According to some historians, the Nazis deported the Carabinieri in part to prevent them from fighting the roundup of Roman Jews.