Eugenio Curiel - Antisemitic Legislation

Antisemitic Legislation

Curciel's last article appeared in the August 20 edition of «Il Bò». It was entitled, The union's reprisal, where he wrote that the union must 'examine closely the way collective contracts are applied' and must take into account the will of workers as that is expressed in union assemblies. To support the idea that in a corporative regime the interests of both employers and workers overlap is proof only of shows 'blindness'. In the same review, however, there was another article listing the names of Jewish teachers in Italian universities. Curiel's name naturally figured among them. The period was one that declared a turnaround in the regime's politics, which now embraced a naziphile position, In November of the same year laws for 'the defence of the (Italian) race were decreed, and, in consequence, Curiel, like so many others, was deprived of his rights to teach.

His expulsion from the university not only made earning one's way more difficult; it also made him automatically a suspect as a possible antifascist and rendered his illegal political activities more arduous. Curiel traveled to Switzerland, where, with the help of Sergio De Benedetti, he managed to make his way to the Parisian foreign office of the Communist party. There he encountered a climate of suspicion, and strong temptations to purge the group, since the Communist International had already denounced the presence of Italian agent provocateurs in the Italian branch. Eugenio Albo, who oversaw the newspaper 'The Voice of Italians' (La Voce degli Italiani) in fact would later be exposed as a spy of the OVRA. Even though no specific charges were laid against him - indeed, he was even considered as a potential editor for a newspaper that was to be published in Alexandria (the idea did not bear fruit) - Curiel passed months of great bitterness in Paris, an experience that led him, in January 1939 to take up contacts with other exponents of antifascism abroad, both socialists and members of the Justice and Liberty (Giustizia e Libertà) movement. In the homonymous newspaper of this group he wrote an article entitled Discussion of unionism and passed on to the socialist Giuseppe Faravelli a short essay he had written, The working masses and the fascist unions (Masse operaie e sindacato fascista) where he reaffirmed the necessity of using the fascist unions to undertake antifascist political work with union workers. Curiel's intention was to set up a unified front of action uniting communists, socialists, and activists of the Justice and Liberty movement, though the activists were decidedly opposed to the proposition. The socialists were divided over this prospect.

In February 1939, Curiel returned to Milan, where he lodged with his sister Grazia. In April he returned once more to Switzerland, where he discussed matters with Pietro Nenni, who was well-disposed to the idea of an accord with communists, and the possibility of organizing groups in Milan to pursue concerted action. He then attempted to enter France illegally but was stopped at the border and consigned to the Swiss police, who accompanied him back to the frontier with Italy. In Italy, in articles and letters, he continued to press for the necessity of establishing 'bonds' (with the communists' that would 'enlarge our contacts with the masses and exercise some influence on the bureaucratic tendencies of the PCI and its blind, passive discipline'. Curiel was in Trieste on the 24 June, 1939 when the police identified and arrested him.