Patrizia Guarnieri

Intellectuals Displaced from Fascist Italy.

Migrants, Exiles and Refugees Fleeing for Political and Racial Reasons

©2019-Author(s) Published by Firenze University Press
e-ISBN: 978-88-6453-872-3 | DOI: 10.36253/978-88-6453-872-3
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Intellectuals Displaced from Fascist Italy

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Gaetano Salvemini (1873-1957)

Molfetta (Bari 8 September 1873 - Sorrento (Naples) 6 September 1957

Gallery

Lives on the move

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Emigrant family members

  • Fernande Dauriac (Brest, France, 16 October 1873 - Paris 2 April 1954), wife: Dauriac was a writer and a translator. Previously she had been married to Julien Luchaire, director of the French Institute of Florence, where they moved in 1908. After divorcing in 1914, she married Salvemini in 1916. Due to her deteriorating health, she moved back to France in October 1924, where she remained until her death in 1954. Salvemini provided for her for all of his life, sending her part of his earnings.

References

In 1926 he readied his application for a position at Bedford College, London, as professor of Modern History. He presented as referees:

  • Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), philosopher;
  • Elie Halévy (1870-1937), historian and philosopher.
Moreover, he also cited as possible referees Ernest Barker, George Peabody Gooch, Thomas Okey, and Graham Wallas. However, in the end, he never applied.

In 1929 he sent an application to Cambridge University for the position of Serene Professor in Italian. He presented as referees:
  • Benedetto Croce;
  • Elie Halévy;
  • Charles Previté-Orton (1877-1947), medievalist and director of the "English Historical Review";
  • Charles Seignobos (1854-1942), historian, professor at Sorbonne.
Ernest Barker as well accepted to provide a reference letter. However, Salvemini did not obtain the position.

In 1930 he sent an application to Bedford College, London, as Chair of Modern History. He presented as referees:
  • Elie Halévy;
  • Charles Previté-Orton;
  • Charles Seignobos.
He also cited as possible referees George Macaulay Trevelyan, Arthur Schlesinger, and Ernest Barker. However, he did not obtain the position.

Support network

  • Mary Berenson (1864-1945) and Bernard Berenson (1865-1959), art historians: they generously provided economic assistance and, following his exile, they put him in contact with Alys Russell in the United Kingdom.
  • Alys Russell (1867-1951), sister of Mary Berenson, activist: Russel accommodated Salvemini in the United Kingdom several times since 1922. She helped in planning conferences and lectures, and put him in contact with members of the Labour Party. She remained a cooperator of Salvemini's antifascist activities until 1933.
  • Ray Strachey (1887-1940), nephew of Alys Russell and daughter of Mary Berenson, suffragist: she helped, together with her aunt, in planning conferences and lectures in the United Kingdom during the 1920s.
  • Henry Wickham Steed (1871-1956), journalist: Steed organised the support campaign for Salvemini after the «Non Mollare» trial and pressured the Foreign Office for Salvemini's release from prison. He acted as a middle-man to help Salvemini reach the United Kingdom in 1925. Time after time he supported Salvemini's antifascist campaigns.
  • Arthur Ponsonby (1871-1946), politician, former undersecretary of the Foreign Office: Ponsonby worked together with Steed to help Salvemini and obtained the pass Salvemini used to move from France to the United Kingdom in November 1925.
  • Isabella Massey (1886-1960), lecturer of German at Bedford College: Massey coordinated Salvemini's antifascist campaign in the United Kingdom, assisted him in his applications to universities, and made several trips to Italy between the 1920s and 1930s in order to keep contact with local antifascists. She was a crucial point of reference for Salvemini, both intellectually and personally.
  • Marion Rawson (1899-1979), translator: Rawson worked together with Massey to coordinate antifascist propaganda in the United Kingdom. She also made several trips to Italy to contact local antifascists between 1926 and 1930. She also acted as the middleman between Salvemini and the British intelligentsia, providing precious support for Salvemini.
  • Virginia Crawford (1863-1948), journalist, aunt of Marion Rawson: she devoted herself to Salvemini's antifascist propaganda in the United Kingdom, helping him with his publications and directing the pamphlet series «Italy To-day».
  • Arthur Meier Schlesinger (1888-1965), historian: he supported Salvemini's visit to Harvard in 1930 when he gave his first cycle of lectures.
  • Ruth Draper (1884-1956), actress: at the end of 1933, she financed a lectureship in History of Italian Civilization in memory of her fiancée, the antifascist Lauro De Bosis, and supported Salvemini as the possible lecturer.
  • Giorgio La Piana (1879-1971), professor in ecclesiastic history at Harvard: he supported Salvemini in the American university since 1930. His influence was decisive for Salvemini to get the De Bosis' lectureship.
  • Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), journalist: he managed to get Salvemini his American visa in 1927.
  • Alvin Saunder Johnson (1874-1971), economist, director of the New School for Social Research between 1922 and 1946: he appointed Salvemini as a member of the University in Exile established by himself.
  • Hamilton Fish Armstrong (1893-1973), journalist: he played a role in Salvemini's appointment at the University in Exile.
  • Robert Henry Pfeiffer (1892-1958), professor of Hebrew and eastern languages at Harvard; Matilde Valenti Pfeiffer (1893-1988), translator; Michele Cantarella (1899-1988), professor of Italian language and literature at the Northampton Smith College; his wife Hélène Paquin Cantarella (1904-2000), translator; Roberto Bolaffio (1893-1977), engineer, and his wife Maritza; Guido Ferrando (1883-1969), professor of Italian at Vassar College: they all were close friends of Salvemini and actively helped him in his day-to-day life, offering housing, comfort, and support in practical issues during his exile in the United States.

Movements

1873Molfetta (Italy)

Birth and education

  • Student
1890Florence

University student

  • Istituto di studi superiori pratici e di perfezionamento
  • Student
1895Palermo

High school teacher

  • Ginnasio Garibaldi
  • Fixed-term employment
  • Teacher
1896Faenza

Transfer

  • Torricelli high school
  • Fixed-term employment
  • Teacher
1898Lodi

Transfer

  • Pietro Verri high school
  • Fixed-term employment
  • Teacher
1900Florence

Transfer

  • Galilei High School
  • Fixed-term employment
  • Teacher
1901Messina

University professor

  • University of Messina
  • Stable employment
  • Tenured professor
1909Florence

Transfer following the Messina earthquake

1910Pisa

Transfer to Pisa

  • University of Pisa
  • Stable employment
  • Tenured professor
1915San Seplocro, Carso, Padua

Enlisted in the army as volunteer

  • He was discharged for health reasons at the end of 1915.
1916Pisa

Return to the university

1916Florence

Transfer to Florence

  • University of Florence. On 8 June 1925, he was arrested in Rome, and removed from his position on 4 December.
  • Stable employment
  • Tenured professor
1922United Kingdom, Paris

Brief stay

  • He followed the Italian political situation in Paris
  • Stable employment
  • Tenured professor
1923United Kingdom

Conference speaker

  • London, Brighton
  • Stable employment
  • Tenured professor
1925Abbaye de Pontigny (France), London, Paris

Emigration from Italy

  • Unemployed
1926London, Paris

Conference speaker and freelance editor

  • Occasional job
  • Others
1926USA

Conference speaker and freelance editor

  • He visited, among other cities: New York, Columbus (OH), Portland (ME), Boston, Montreal (Canada), Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Hoboken (NJ).
  • Fixed-term employment
  • Others
1927London, Paris

Conference speaker and freelance editor

  • Occasional job
  • Others
1929New York

Fix-term contract in the USA

  • New School for Social Research. He also held some conferences in California.
  • Occasional job,Fixed-term employment
  • Untenured professor,Others
1929London, Paris

Conference speaker and freelance editor

  • Occasional job
  • Others
1930Cambridge (MA)

University teaching

  • Harvard University.
  • Fixed-term employment
  • Untenured professor
1930Paris

Return to Europe

  • Occasional job
  • Journalist,Others
1932United States, France

Emigration to the United States

  • Yale University; Cambridge (MA); since December 1933 Lauro De Bosis lecturer until 1948. Salvemini also spent some time in Paris (1933, 1935); held a course at the New School for Social Research (1935, 1936); and conferences at the University of Chicago (1938).
  • Fixed-term employment
  • Untenured professor
1947London, Paris, Italy

Return to Europe

1947Cambridge (MA)

Return to Harvard

  • Fixed-term employment
  • Untenured professor
1949Florence

Reinstated as supernumerary

  • University of Florence
  • Stable employment
  • Tenured professor
1951Cambridge (MA)

Stay at Harvard

1951Sorrento

Return to Italy

  • Not employed
1957Sorrento