Why are we different? How the racial laws have changed the life of Jewish-Florentine children and adolescent people

Abstract

The paper intends to analyze a historical educational context, which is yet to be adequately researched: namely, that of the organization of the elementary school within the Jewish community of Florence during the period of the racial laws of 1938-43. After some introductory remarks on the relationship between the educational processes of the Jewish Italian world and the political, social and cultural changes of the twentieth century, the essay traces the distinctive traits of the centuries-old presence of elementary school courses within the ghetto and the Jewish Florentine community. Finally, through the reading of the archive documents of the archive and the testimonies, the paper analyses the response of the Florentine Jewish community to the racial laws and some fragments of school life, propositioning reading of testimonies of the children of that time.