Italian occupation in Tunisia and Yugoslavia: differences and similarities in the relations with Jews

For several reasons, most authors who have worked on the subject of the territories occupied by the Italian army during the second world war have characterized this army as being less violent than that of the Germans against the Jews. This article analyses the Italian army’s relations with Jews in Tunisia, comparing them with those in Yugoslavia, in order to stress how the attitude of the army in Tunisia towards the Jewish community was influenced by the weight that the entire Italian community (including both Jews and non-Jews) had before and during the second world war. Specifically, where in Yugoslavia (as in Greece and southern France), the army had a generally collaborative attitude with the general local Jewish community, in Tunisia the army only worked to preserve the Italian Jewish community; this conduct was due to the fact that the defence of the Italian Jews contributed to the wider defence of Italian interests in the region, and therefore to the dispute between Italy and France to control Tunisia.