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Mussolini 's Main Goals For Italy

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“Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but above all, thou shalt not be a bystander” (A), these wise words were spoken by Yehuda Bauer, 65 years after the start of the Holocaust. Italy, under the rule of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, was one of the many countries who turned her back on the Jewish people. Because of political, social and economic reasons, Italy was a bystander to the heinous crimes inflicted on the Jewish population. Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian government in 1922, and ruled until 1943. Under Mussolini’s rule, democratic institutions were shut down. The shutdown of democratic institutions resulted in a Fascist dictatorship. One of Mussolini’s main goals for Italy was to build a …show more content…

Nazi propaganda in Italy included pictures of smiling Nazis reaching out to shake your hand, and small children waving flags with swastikas. The lack of honest media showing what was happening to the Jewish community, and why it was happening, resulted in uneducated Italian citizens who did not know the true horror of what went on in concentration camps. Word of what was going on in Germany did not even reach America until 1942 in an article written by Varian Fry. Fry describes the massacre of the Jewish community as acts “so horrible, decent men and women find them impossible to believe [and] so monstrous that the civilized world recoils incredulous before them” (Fry). This article resulted in America’s very late, but positive involvement in the Holocaust. But why did Italy, a country so much nearer in proximity to Germany than America, never get involved? Because Nazi propaganda was nonexistent in America. Nevertheless, some could still argue that social forces had no effect on Italy’s un-involvement, this argument would be extremely weak because it is clear “Nazi propaganda was essential to motivating those who executed the mass murder of European Jews” (Nazi). If disinformation, such as propaganda had not swept across the country of Italy, it is clear to see why the number of Jews who were sent to concentration camps would have been fewer. As a final point, economic factors

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