by Alessandra Cardone
ROME, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Italian universities on Thursday made a collective apology to the Jewish community for obeying racial laws and expelling Jewish teachers and students under fascism.
The deans of Italy's 86 major universities gathered in Pisa in central Tuscany to take public responsibility for having accepted and implemented those provisions at the time.
It was the first time ever the country's academic institution took such a collective stance, and the location for the event -- which was broadcast live -- was not a random choice.
It was indeed at the outskirts of Pisa that the then-Italian king signed the first of the decrees "For the Defence of the Race" in 1938.
In a matter of weeks, at least 448 Jewish professors were forced to leave their teaching role, and further 727 scholars were kicked out from academies and research institutes.
The same happened in Italian primary and secondary schools.
Jewish students suffered an identical fate -- with the first racial decree, they were immediately expelled, and banned from enrolling for that year and the next six.
"That decree was implemented without exception by all deans in all universities in Italy," Pisa University rector Paolo Mancarella stressed in his opening address.
"They all obeyed, and that collective expulsion did not spark indignation nor protests from their colleagues," he acknowledged.
The scholar recalled that 20 professors and 300 students were expelled from the university of Pisa, one of Italy's most ancient academic institutions.
At Thursday's ceremony -- officially marking the 80th anniversary of the racial laws -- academics sat with representatives of Italy's Jewish communities, intellectuals, and public officers.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella sent his message.
Overall, the racial laws enacted by Mussolini's regime progressively discriminated the Jews from all aspects of the public life, and, during World War II, some 8,000 Italian Jewish were sent to concentration camps, and at least 7,172 of them died.
Italy's academia finally acknowledged its connivance with those policies, although the Dean of Pisa admitted begging pardon 80 years later felt somehow "improper and insufficient."
Yet, academics deemed it a necessary step, although late.
"By endorsing those laws, the Italian entire academic institution betrayed its role as guarantor of the freedom of critical thinking and of the respect for ethical values," said Pietro Pietrini, Director of the IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca.
Furthermore, taking responsibility for the past collusion might assume a relevant meaning in current times as well, according to the scholars.
"It is clear this 80th anniversary is especially relevant, and we (the Tuscan universities) have started preparing for this event more than one year ago," the rector of Pisa told Xinhua.
"Yet, it is meaningful that this collective act of responsibility has coincided with a historic phase in which we are seeing some clouds darkening the sky of Italy and of Europe."
"The ceremony marks a very clear message: we reject any kind of discrimination," Mancarella said.
Among scholars expelled from universities, or overall forced to leave Italy due to anti-Semitism under fascism were many eminent scientists, such as Emilio Segre (Physics Nobel Prize 1959), economic history scholar Angelo Segre, physicist Bruno Rossi, microbiologist Salvador Luria (Medicine Nobel Prize 1969), and neurobiologist Rita Levi Montalcini (Medicine Nobel Prize 1986).
