Intellectuals Displaced from Fascist Italy

I would like to thank the following for their patronage:

Paul Holdengräber and Thomas G. Lannon, assistant director of Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books at the New York Public Library; Cara Dellatte and all the staff of Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books at the NYPL for their valued help during various phases of my research from 2007 onwards, and for all the material from the records of the ECADFS made available for research purposes.

Stephen Wordsworth, director of the Council for At-Risk Academics in London for permission to work on the papers of the SPSL, the historic archive of the organisation: ‘Over 85 years since CARA was founded, academics still face danger from persecution, violence and conflict in many countries, and so CARA has continued its work, bringing hundreds to safety in recent years.’

Chris Fletcher, Keeper of Special Collections at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, which currently holds the SPSL archive.

Anthony Tamburri, director of the J. Calandra Italian American Institute, CUNY, where I carried out a part of the research as a M. Di Palermo McCauley Visiting Scholar.

Yochai Ben-Ghedalia, director of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, The Hebrew University, Jersualem, for providing material.

For their dedicated involvement:

the late Daniela Misul, president of the Jewish Community of Florence, the Historical Studies Group of the Community, together with Lea Campos Boralevi and Lionella Neppi Modona Viterbo; Guido and Anne Calabresi who also generously offered hospitality in Manhatten; Helly Bonaventura Snir and Sergio della Pergola, through whose good offices moreover it was possible to consult personal files from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; my colleagues at IASA, in particular Marcella Bencivenni, Mary Gibson and Stan Pugliese, for their suggestions and interest.

Without Francesca Cavarocchi and her constant commitment I would never even have ventured to consider the idea of setting up the database, an instrument which we hope will be put to use and offer material for further analysis, including of a statistical nature, as Alessandra Petrucci has urged.

Grateful thanks also to the following:

Laura Solito, prorettrice, and Laura Giambastiani, representative of the Rettore, University of Florence. Claudia De Venuto and Floriana Pagano of the Culture and Research Directorate of the Regione Toscana, Dario Abbate of the SAGAS Department. Elisa Cavigli, Fioranna Salvadori, Fabio Silari and the staff of the University of Florence Archivio e trattamento degli atti who are ordering the university’s archival series which are currently scattered in various locations..

The staff of archives cited in the biographies and corresponding sources (listed in the alphabetical order of their institutions). In particular:

Angie Goodgame and the staff of the Bodleian Library - Special Collections, Oxford; 
Anastasia Glazanova of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem; 
Julien Couture, McGill University Archives, Montreal;
The staff of the New School Archive, New York;
Alessandro Mauro, in charge of the Archivio Storico of the Ordine dei medici chirurghi e degli odontoiatri of the province of Florence;
Catie Huggins, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections & University Archives, Nortwestern University;
Nathan Coy, Sounds Archive, Stanford University;
Andrea Daltri, Archivio Storico, University of Bologna;
Polina E. Ilieva and Jasmine Dew, Archives and Special Collections, University of California, San Francisco;

Marco De Poli and Donatella Mazzetto, Archivio storico, University of Padua

Daniela Lo Brutto, Archivio Storico di ateneo, University of Palermo;

Daniele Ronco, Archivio Storico, University of Pisa;

Anne Allis and Abbie Weiser, Special Collections, University of Texas at El Paso Library;
Paola Novaria, Archvio Storico, University of Turin;
Lesley Annamalay, Special Collections and Archive, Reid Library, The University of Western Australia.
The following professional regulatory bodies in Florence have kindly facilitated access to their archives: the Ordine degli architetti (architects), who however hold no documentation prior to 1940; the Ordine degli ingegneri (engineers), and the Ordine dei medici (physicians). The Ordine degli avvocati (lawyers) were unable to permit consultation due to the material being inaccessible.

All those who have offered testimony, recollections, documents and photographs for the preparation of biographies of relatives, colleagues or acquaintances:

David Abrahamson (Northwestern University, IL), Pina Antognini (Milano), the late Daniel Ascheri (Tel Aviv), Irit Ashery Liebman (Jersualem), Alberto Barocas (Roma), Leonardo Bieber, Rachel Bonaventura Snir (Tel Aviv), Guido Calabresi (Yale University), Lea Campos Boralevi (University of Florence), David Cassuto (Ariel University in Samaria), Susanna Cassuto Evron (Jerusalem), Piero Cividalli, Guido Clemente (University of Florence), Leo Coen Pirani (Milan), Gilbert De Benedetti (Pittsburgh), Lydia De Benedetti Moran (CA), Vera De Benedetti Bonnet (Pittsburgh), Andrea De Marchi (University of Florence), Roberto De Philippis (University of Florence), Umberto Di Gioacchino, Vasanti Ferrando Fithian (Santa Barbara, CA), Carlo Franchetti (University of Florence), Annalia Franchetti (University of Florence), Liana Funaro (Florence), Neil Gentilli (Perth), Diana Goldschmied (Olbicella, AL.), Maria Cristina Lauria (Florence), Maria Leuzzi Fubini (Florence), Jean Levi (Paris), Luisa Levi D’Ancona (Jerusalem), Viviano Levi D’Ancona (Florence), Piera Levi-Montalcini (Rome), Anna Lombroso (Cambridge, MA.), Michele Luzzatto, Gigliola Mariani Sacerdoti (University of Florence), Eliana Montuori (Buenos Aires), Robert Nissim (New York), Daniele Olschki (Florence), Marina Peressutti (Milan), Maurizio Pincherle, Sylvia Poggioli (New York), Bosiljka Raditsa (New York), Romano Reuven Ravenna, Elena Lea Rossi Artom (Jerusalem), Linda Rossi (New York), Michele Sarfatti (Milan), Laura Trevisan (Venice), Lucy Vivante e Lydia Vivante (Wellfleet MA), Giovanna and Sara Volterra (Florence).

Among the many who have helped in establishing contacts and in finding further evidence and sources:

Giampaolo Borghello (University of Udine), Filippo Bauleo (USL2 Umbria), Renato Camurri (University of Verona), Carlo Spartaco Capogreco (University of Calabria), Roberto Casalbuoni (University of Florence), Alberto Cavaglion (University of Florence), Fiorella Citerni (Florence), Alessandro De Angelis (University of Padova), Matteo Fiorani (University of Rome Tor Vergata), Marcello Garzaniti (University of Florence), Giacomo Gabbuti (University of Oxford), Matteo Galli (University of Ferrara), Carlo Ginzburg (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa), Valeria Graffone (University of Turin), Javier Grossutti (University of Padova), Elisa Lo Monaco (Florence), Stefano Luconi (University of Padova), Teresita Mazzei (OMF and University of Florence), Massimo Mazzoni (University of Florence), Antonella Meniconi (Sapienza University, Rome), Francesco Micelli (University of Udine), Alessandra Minerbi (Milan), Anthony Molho (European University Institute), Ilaria Monda (Florence), Giovanni Montroni (Federico II University, Naples), Mauro Moretti (Università per Stranieri, Siena), Nerio Naldi (Sapienza University, Rome), the late Giancarlo Paba (University of Florence), Antonio Panti (Florence), Alessandro Pascolini (University of Padua), Marco Piccolino (University of Ferrara), Penelope Poetis (Munich), Dorothy Porter (University of California, San Francisco), Chiara Renzo (University of Florence), Ilaria Romeo (University of Florence), Daniela Scala (CDEC, Milan), Cosimo Schinaia (Genova), Michael Sierra (Jerusalem), Edward Shorter (University of Toronto), Valdo Spini (Florence), Massimo Tarassi (Florence), Laura Trevisan (Venice), Simone Turchetti (University of Manchester), Mario Varvaro (University of Palermo), Paola Zocchi (La Bicocca University, Milan), Katherine Wilson (University of Toronto), Kathy Zotnowski (Ojai, CA).

The English version of this online portal would not have been possible without the kind generosity of all those who offered their services as translators as a statement against racism and antisemitism. 

Finally, I would like to thank the students of many nationalities — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish — who attended my courses on contemporary cultural history at the University of Florence.