CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Kelemen, Ágnes Katalin |
|---|---|
| Title | Leaving an Antisemitic Regime for a Fascist Country: The Hungarian Numerus Clausus Refugees in Italy |
| Summary | The thesis contributes to the research on the consequences of the Hungarian antisemitic numerus clausus law of 1920 by investigating the following peregrination of Hungarian Jewish students to fascist Italy. The novelty of this work lies in the fact that Italy as a target country of such peregrination has not been previously researched. The paradox of fascist Italy’s receptivity towards the students haunted by the antisemitic politics of Italy’s ally, Hungary, is discussed in addition to the Hungarian and Italian historical contexts. A wide range of primary sources, archival documents, statistics and journal articles are investigated enabling the analysis of the numerus clausus peregrination from multiple perspectives, including that of the students, of a Hungarian diplomat, of Hungarian and Italian public administrators, and correspondence of individuals with Mussolini’s office. As a principal focus, a sample of Hungarian Jewish students of the University of Bologna (where they were present in the highest number) in the fascist period is investigated. On the basis of their admission documents, it is evident that they were not the best students but their lower graded Hungarian maturity exams were sufficient for enrolling in Italian universities. In addition, it is concluded that Italy provided more opportunities for assimilation even for foreign Jews, than their home country did for its own citizens. Furthermore, during the war numerus clausus refugees in German-occupied Northern Italy had a higher chance of surviving the Shoah than Jews in Hungary, even though both countries were allied to Nazi Germany. |
| Supervisor | Kovacs, Maria M.; Karady, Victor |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/kelemen_agnes_02.pdf |
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