Italian Psychology and Jewish Emigration under Fascism: From Florence to Jerusalem and New York

292 Pages·2016·4.697 MB·English

by  Patrizia Guarnieri (auth.)

Italian and Italian American Studies
Stanislao G. Pugliese
Hofstra University
Series Editor
T his publishing initiative seeks to bring the latest scholarship in Italian and Italian American his-
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REBECCA WEST JOSEPHINE GATTUSO HENDIN
University of Chicago New York University
FRED GARDAPH É PHILIP V. CANNISTRARO †
Queens College, CUNY Queens College and the Graduate School, CUNY
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Universit à di Roma “La Sapienza”
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Giovanna Faleschini Lerner
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Ruth Glynn
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Forging Shoah Memories: Italian Women Writers, Jewish Identity, and the Holocaust
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Giovanni Orsina
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Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto
April 2015
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Salvatore Lupo
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Male Anxiety and Psychopathology in Film: Comedy Italian Style
Andrea Bini
September 2015
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Simon Levis Sullam
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Simone Testa
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Interpreting Primo Levi: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
edited by Minna Vuohelainen and Arthur Chapman
December 2015
Italian Psychology and Jewish Emigration under Fascism: From Florence to Jerusalem and New York
Patrizia Guarnieri
January 2016
Italian Psychology and Jewish
Emigration under Fascism
From Florence to Jerusalem and
New York
Patrizia Guarnieri
ITALIAN PSYCHOLOGY AND JEWISH EMIGRATION UNDER FASCISM
Copyright © Patrizia Guarnieri 2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-30655-5
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First published 2016 by
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accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire, RG21 6XS.
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has companies and representatives throughout the world.
ISBN: 978–1–349–56422–4
E-PDF ISBN: 978–1–137–30656–2
DOI: 10.1057/9781137306562
Distribution in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world is by Palgrave Macmillan®,
a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number
785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Guarnieri, Patrizia, 1954– author.
Italian psychology and Jewish emigration under Fascism : from Florence to
Jerusalem and New York / Patrizia Guarnieri.
pages cm.—(Italian and Italian American studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–1–137–30655–5 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Jews—Italy—Florence—Biography. 2. Psychologists—Italy—Florence—
Biography. 3. Università di Firenze. Istituto di psicologia—History—20th century.
4. Jews—Italy—Emigration and immigration—History—20th century.
5. Fascism and education—Italy—History—20th century. 6. Italy—
Emigration and immigration—History—20th century. I. Title.
DS135.I85F545 2016
305.892(cid:2)404551109041—dc23 2015026191
A catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Archival Sources xiii
Introduction 1
1 Psychologists “in the True Sense of the Word” 13
2 Neo-idealism and the “Cinderella of the Sciences” 43
3 Fascistization, Discrimination, and Persecution 71
4 Th e Zionist Network and Enzo Bonaventura: From Florence to
Jerusalem 113
5 Th e Anti-Fascist Network and Renata Calabresi: From Florence to
Rome and New York 155
Notes 199
References 231
Index 263
Plates appear between pages 154 and 155

Acknowledgments
L ooking for papers scattered about in public archives and private houses, I have
often found people who told me their stories about those papers and the lives
behind them. They have nearly always been exciting encounters, relations of
trust that sometimes became friendships. I cannot find the words to thank Guido
Calabresi; years ago, having heard about my work on his aunt, he contacted me
and since then has been “at my side” in this research project. I owe special thanks
to Francesco De Sarlo Jr., Tessa Marzi and Carlo Alberto Marzi, and Anna
Teicher. Also to Rav. Joseph Levi of Florence, who introduced me to the archives
of Jerusalem; Ilan Yaniv and Shoham Choshen-Hillel from the Department of
Psychology at the Hebrew University, who arranged to have Bonaventura’s papers
copied at the Hebrew University Central Archive (HUCA), Jerusalem. For the
translation from Hebrew I am indebted to Liora Reif and Odelia Liberanome.
Private correspondence is often not conserved, and this was the case for Enzo
Bonaventura, Renata, and Massimo Calabresi with the exception of a few letters.
I have not an explanation as to why the available papers of some Italian psycholo-
gists contain none or very few of De Sarlo’s letters, since he was undoubtedly a
very active correspondent. But we have traces and evidences of deletions, even
in official documents and publications. All those who provided me with archi-
val information have helped me to also detect what has been missing, especially
Yochai Ben-Ghedalia of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
(CAHJP), Jerusalem; Mirco Bianchi of the Istituto Storico della Resistenza in
Toscana (ISRT), Florence; Nicole C. Dittrich of the Special Collections Research
Center (SCRC), Syracuse University, Syracuse; Raffaella Gobbo of the Archivi
della Parola, dell’Immagine e della Comunicazione Editoriale (APICE), Milan;
Carmen Henderschott of the New School of Social Research (NSSR), New York;
Sean Noel of the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center (HGARC), Boston
University, Boston; Maurizio Romano of the Archivio Generale per la Storia
dell’Universit à Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (AUC), Milan; Samantha Townsend
of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Oxford (BLO); Michael Vinegrad
of the HUCA; and the very generous Paola Zocchi of the Archivi Storici della
Psicologia Italiana, Universit à di Milano-Bicocca (ASPI), Milan.
Thanks are due to the staff of the University of Florence, particularly Manuela
Carmignani, Domenico Iannone, Susanna Massidda, Fioranna Salvadori, and
Floriana Tagliabue, the director of the Biblioteca Umanistica . I would also like
to thank the Committee of the Biblioteca Umanistica dell’Università di Firenze
(BUF), Florence, then directed by Renato Pasta; the Faculty of Psychology and