Italian Fascism and racism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Fascist Italy was not officially racist, unlike its World War II Axis partner Nazi Germany. Italy's Fascist Party leader, Benito Mussolini, expressed different views on the importance of race in the course of his career: at times he spoke of alarm about the possible extinction of “white people” (with Italians considered “white” in his view), while at other times he denied the theory of race. Consolidation of territory gained in the northeast of Italy led to the state-sanctioned persecution and ethnic cleansing of Slovenes. By 1938 Mussolini supported racism, as evidenced by his endorsement of the "Manifesto of Race", the seventh point which states that "it is time that Italians proclaim themselves to be openly racist".
