The history of the Jews in Italy spans more than two thousand years to the present. The Jewish presence in Italy dates to the pre-Christian Roman period and has continued, despite periods of extreme persecution and expulsions, until the present. As of 2019, the estimated core Jewish population in Italy numbers around 45,000.

Pre-Christian Rome

The Jewish community in Rome is likely one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world, existing from classical times until today.

Most certainly, it is known that in 139 BCE, Simon Maccabeus sent a Hasmonean embassy to Rome in order to strengthen his alliance with the Roman Republic against the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom. The ambassadors received a cordial welcome from their coreligionists already established in Rome.

Large numbers of Jews even lived in Rome during the late Roman Republican period (from around 150 BC). They were largely Greek-speaking and poor. As Rome had increasing contact with and military/trade dealings with the Greek-speaking Levant, during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, many Greeks, as well as Jews, came to Rome as merchants or were brought there as slaves.

The Romans appear to have viewed the Jews as followers of peculiar, backward religious customs, but antisemitism as it would come to be in the Christian and Islamic worlds did not exist (see Anti-Judaism in the pre-Christian Roman Empire). Despite their disdain, the Romans did recognize and respect the antiquity of the Jews' religion and the fame of their Temple in Jerusalem (Herod's Temple). Many Romans did not know much about Judaism, including the emperor Augustus who, according to his biographer Suetonius, thought that Jews fasted on the sabbath. Julius Caesar was known as a great friend to the Jews, and they were among the first to mourn his assassination.

In Rome, the community was highly organized, and presided over by heads called άρχοντες (archontes) or γερουσιάρχοι (gerousiarchoi). The Jews maintained in Rome several synagogues, whose spiritual leader was called αρχισυνάγωγος (archisynagogos). Their tombstones, mostly in Greek with a few in Hebrew/Aramaic or Latin, were decorated with the ritual menorah (seven-branched candelabrum).

Some scholars have previously argued that Jews in the pre-Christian Roman Empire were active in proselytising Romans in Judaism, leading to an increasing number of outright converts. The new consensus is, that this is not the case. According to Erich S. Gruen, though conversions did happen, there is no evidence of Jews trying to convert Gentiles to Judaism. It has also been argued that some people adopted some Jewish practices and belief in the Jewish God without actually converting (called God-fearers).

The fate of Jews in Rome and Italy fluctuated, with partial expulsions being carried out under the emperors Tiberius and Claudius. After the successive Jewish revolts of 66 and 132 CE, many Judean Jews were brought to Rome as slaves (the norm in the ancient world was for prisoners of war and inhabitants of defeated cities to be sold as slaves). These revolts caused increasing official hostility from the reign of Vespasian onwards. The most serious measure was the Fiscus Judaicus, which was a tax payable by all Jews in the Roman Empire. The new tax replaced the tithe that had formerly been sent to the Temple in Jerusalem (destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE), and was used instead in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome.

In addition to Rome, there were a significant number of Jewish communities in southern Italy during this period. For example, the regions of Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia had well established Jewish populations.

Late antiquity

With the promotion of Christianity as a legal religion of the Roman Empire by Constantine in 313 (the Edict of Milan), the position of Jews in Italy and throughout the empire declined rapidly and dramatically. Constantine established oppressive laws for the Jews; but these were in turn abolished by Julian the Apostate, who showed his favor toward the Jews to the extent of permitting them to resume their plan for the reconstruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. This concession was withdrawn under his successor, who, again, was a Christian; and then the oppression grew considerably. Nicene Christianity was adopted as the state church of the Roman Empire in 380, shortly before the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

At the time of the foundation of the Ostrogothic rule under Theodoric (493–526), there were flourishing communities of Jews in Rome, Milan, Genoa, Palermo, Messina, Agrigentum, and in Sardinia. The Popes of the period were not seriously opposed to the Jews; and this accounts for the ardor with which the latter took up arms for the Ostrogoths as against the forces of Justinian—particularly at Naples, where the remarkable defense of the city was maintained almost entirely by Jews. After the failure of the various attempts to make Italy a province of the Byzantine empire, the Jews had to suffer much oppression from the Exarch of Ravenna; but it was not long until the greater part of Italy came into the possession of the Lombards (568-774), under whom they lived in peace. Indeed, the Lombards passed no exceptional laws relative to the Jews. Even after the Lombards embraced Catholicism the condition of the Jews was always favorable, because the popes of that time not only did not persecute them, but guaranteed them more or less protection. Pope Gregory I treated them with much consideration. Under succeeding popes the condition of the Jews did not grow worse; and the same was the case in the several smaller states into which Italy was divided. Both popes and states were so absorbed in continual external and internal dissensions that the Jews were left in peace. In every individual state of Italy a certain amount of protection was granted to them in order to secure the advantages of their commercial enterprise. The fact that the historians of this period scarcely make mention of the Jews, suggests that their circumstances were tolerable.

Middle Ages

There were several expulsions, including a brief one from Bologna in 1172, and forced conversions: in Trani in 1380 there were four synagogues, transformed into churches at the time of Charles III of Naples, while 310 local Jews were forced to be baptized. A nephew of Rabbi Nathan ben Jehiel acted as administrator of the property of Pope Alexander III, who showed his amicable feelings toward the Jews at the Lateran Council of 1179. He defeated the designs of hostile prelates who advocated anti-Jewish laws. Under Norman rule, the Jews of southern Italy and of Sicily enjoyed even greater freedom; they were considered the equals of Christians, and were permitted to follow any career. They also had jurisdiction over their own affairs. The canonical laws against the Jews were more frequently disregarded in Italy than in any other country or region. A later pope—either Nicholas IV (1288–1292) or Boniface VIII (1294–1303)—had a Jewish physician, Isaac ben Mordecai, nicknamed Maestro Gajo.

Literary achievement
Among the early Jews of Italy who left written manuscripts was Shabbethai Donnolo (died 982). Two centuries later (1150), poets Shabbethai ben Moses of Rome; his son Jehiel Kalonymus, once regarded as a Talmudic authority even beyond Italy; and Rabbi Jehiel of the Mansi (Anaw) family, also of Rome, became known for their works. Nathan, son of the above-mentioned Rabbi Jehiel, was the author of a Talmudic lexicon ("'Aruk") that became the key to the study of the Talmud.

During his residence at Salerno, Solomon ben Abraham ibn Parhon compiled a Hebrew dictionary. This encouraged Italian Jews to study Biblical exegesis. On the whole, however, Hebrew literary culture was not flourishing. The only liturgical author of merit was Joab ben Solomon, some of whose compositions are extant.

Toward the second half of the 13th century, signs appeared of a better Hebrew culture and of a more profound study of the Talmud. Isaiah di Trani the Elder (1232–1279), a high Talmudic authority, wrote many celebrated responsa. David, his son, and Isaiah di Trani the Younger, his nephew, followed in his footsteps, as did their descendants until the end of the seventeenth century. Meïr ben Moses presided over an important Talmudic school in Rome, and Abraham ben Joseph over one in Pesaro. In Rome two famous physicians, Abraham and Jehiel, descendants of Nathan ben Jehiel, taught the Talmud. Paola dei Mansi, one of the women of this gifted family, also attained distinction; she had considerable knowledge of the Bible and Talmud, and she transcribed Biblical commentaries in a notably beautiful handwriting (see Jew. Encyc. i. 567, s.v. Paola Anaw).

During this period, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, the last of the Hohenstaufen, employed Jews to translate from the Arabic philosophical and astronomical treatises. Among the translators were Judah ben Solomon ha-Kohen of Toledo, later of Tuscany, and Jacob Anatoli of Provence. This encouragement naturally led to the study of the works of Maimonides—particularly of the "Moreh Nebukim"—the favorite writer of Hillel of Verona (1220–1295). This last-named litterateur and philosopher practised medicine at Rome and in other Italian cities, and translated several medical works into Hebrew. The liberal spirit of the writings of Maimonides had other votaries in Italy; e.g., Shabbethai ben Solomon of Rome and Zerahiah Ḥen of Barcelona, who migrated to Rome and contributed much to spread the knowledge of his works. The effect of this on the Italian Jews was apparent in their love of freedom of thought and their esteem for literature, as well as in their adherence to the literal rendering of the Biblical texts and their opposition to fanatical cabalists and mystic theories. Among other devotees of these theories was Immanuel ben Solomon of Rome, the celebrated friend of Dante Aligheri. The discord between the followers of Maimonides and his opponents wrought most serious damage to the interests of Judaism.

The rise of poetry in Italy at the time of Dante influenced the Jews also. The rich and the powerful, partly by reason of sincere interest, partly in obedience to the spirit of the times, became patrons of Jewish writers, thus inducing the greatest activity on their part. This activity was particularly noticeable at Rome, where a new Jewish poetry arose, mainly through the works of Leo Romano, translator of the writings of Thomas Aquinas and author of exegetical works of merit; of Judah Siciliano, a writer in rimed prose; of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, a famous satirical poet; and especially of the above-mentioned Immanuel. On the initiative of the Roman community, a Hebrew translation of Maimonides' Arabic commentary on the Mishnah was made. At this time Pope John XXII was on the point of pronouncing a ban against the Jews of Rome. The Jews instituted a day of public fasting and of prayer to appeal for divine assistance. King Robert of Sicily, who favored the Jews, sent an envoy to the pope at Avignon, who succeeded in averting this great peril. Immanuel himself described this envoy as a person of high merit and of great culture. This period of Jewish literature in Italy is indeed one of great splendor. After Immanuel there were no other Jewish writers of importance until Moses da Rieti (1388).

Worsening conditions under Innocent III

The position of Jews in Italy worsened considerably under Pope Innocent III (1198–1216). This pope threatened with excommunication those who placed or maintained Jews in public positions, and he insisted that every Jew holding office should be dismissed. The deepest insult was the order that every Jew must always wear, conspicuously displayed, a special yellow badge.
In 1235 Pope Gregory IX published the first bull against the ritual murder accusation. Other popes followed his example, particularly Innocent IV in 1247, Gregory X in 1272, Clement VI in 1348, Gregory XI in 1371, Martin V in 1422, Nicholas V in 1447, Sixtus V in 1475, Paul III in 1540, and later Alexander VII, Clement XIII, and Clement XIV.

Antipope Benedict XIII
The Jews suffered much from the relentless persecutions of the Avignon-based antipope Benedict XIII. They hailed his successor, Martin V, with delight. The synod convoked by the Jews at Bologna, and continued at Forlì, sent a deputation with costly gifts to the new pope, praying him to abolish the oppressive laws promulgated by Benedict and to grant the Jews those privileges which had been accorded them under previous popes. The deputation succeeded in its mission, but the period of grace was short; for Martin's successor, Eugenius IV, at first favorably disposed toward the Jews, ultimately reenacted all the restrictive laws issued by Benedict. In Italy, however, his bull was generally disregarded. The great centers, such as Venice, Florence, Genoa, and Pisa, realized that their commercial interests were of more importance than the affairs of the spiritual leaders of the Church; and accordingly the Jews, many of whom were bankers and leading merchants, found their condition better than ever before. It thus became easy for Jewish bankers to obtain permission to establish banks and to engage in monetary transactions. Indeed, in one instance even the Bishop of Mantua, in the name of the pope, accorded permission to the Jews to lend money at interest. All the banking negotiations of Tuscany were in the hands of a Jew, Jehiel of Pisa. The influential position of this successful financier was of the greatest advantage to his coreligionists at the time of the exile from Spain.

The Jews were also successful as skilled medical practitioners. William of Portaleone, physician to King Ferdinand I of Naples, and to the ducal houses of Sforza and Gonzaga, was one of the ablest of that time. He was the first of the long line of illustrious physicians in his family.

Early modern period
It is estimated that in 1492 Jews made up between 3% and 6% of the population of Sicily. Many Sicilian Jews first went to Calabria, which already had a Jewish community since the 4th century. In 1524 Jews were expelled from Calabria, and in 1540 from the entire Kingdom of Naples, as all these areas fell under Spanish rule and were subject to the edict of expulsion by the Spanish Inquisition.

Throughout the 16th century, Jews gradually moved from the south of Italy to the north, with conditions worsening for Jews in Rome after 1556 and the Venetian Republic in the 1580s. Many Jews from Venice and the surrounding area migrated to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at this time.

Refugees from Spain
When Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, many of them found refuge in Italy, where they were given protection by King Ferdinand I of Naples. One of the refugees, Don Isaac Abravanel, even received a position at the Neapolitan court, which he retained under the succeeding king, Alfonso II. The Spanish Jews were also well received in Ferrara by Duke Ercole d'Este I and in Tuscany through the mediation of Jehiel of Pisa and his sons. But at Rome and Genoa they experienced all the vexations and torments that hunger, plague, and poverty bring with them, and they were forced to accept baptism to escape starvation. In a few cases, the refugees exceeded in number the Jews already domiciled, and thus gave the determining vote in matters of communal interest and in the direction of studies.

Popes Alexander VI to Clement VII were indulgent toward Jews, having more urgent matters to occupy them.  After the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain, some 9,000 impoverished Spanish Jews arrived at the borders of the Papal States.  Alexander VI welcomed them into Rome, declaring that they were "permitted to lead their life, free from interference from Christians, to continue in their own rites, to gain wealth, and to enjoy many other privileges."  He similarly allowed the immigration of Jews expelled from Portugal in 1497 and from Provence in 1498.

The popes and many of the most influential cardinals openly violated one of the most severe enactments of the Council of Basel, namely, that prohibiting Christians from employing Jewish physicians; they even gave the latter positions at the papal court. The Jewish communities of Naples and of Rome received the greatest number of accessions; but many Jews passed on from these cities to Ancona, Venice, Calabria, and thence to Florence and Padua. Venice, imitating the odious measures of the German cities, assigned to the Jews a special quarter (ghetto).

Expulsion from Naples

The ultra-Catholic party tried with all the means at its disposal to introduce the Inquisition into the Neapolitan realm, then under Spanish rule. Charles V, upon his return from his victories in Africa, was on the point of exiling the Jews from Naples when Benvenida, wife of Samuel Abravanel, caused him to defer the action. A few years later, in 1533, a similar decree was proclaimed, but upon this occasion also Samuel Abravanel and others were able through their influence to avert for several years the execution of the edict. Many Jews repaired to the Ottoman Empire, some to Ancona, and still others to Ferrara, where they were received graciously by Duke Ercole II.

After the death of Pope Paul III (1534–1549), who had showed favor to the Jews, a period of strife, persecution, and despondency set in. A few years later the Jews were exiled from Genoa, among the refugees being Joseph Hakohen, physician to the doge Andrea Doria and eminent historian. Duke Ercole allowed the Marranos, driven from Spain and Portugal, to enter his dominions and to profess Judaism freely and openly. Samuel Usque, also a historian, who had fled from the Portuguese Inquisition, settled in Ferrara, and Abraham Usque founded a large printing establishment there. A third Usque, Solomon, merchant of Venice and Ancona and poet of some note, translated the sonnets of Petrarch into excellent Spanish verse, and this work was much admired by his contemporaries.

Although the return to Judaism of the Marrano Usques caused much rejoicing among the Italian Jews, this was counterbalanced by the deep grief into which they were plunged by the conversion to Christianity of two grandsons of Elijah Levita, Leone Romano and Vittorio Eliano. One became a canon of the Church; the other, a Jesuit. They heavily criticized the Talmud to Pope Julius III and the Inquisition; as a consequence the pope pronounced a sentence of destruction against this work, to the printing of which one of his predecessors, Leo X, had given his sanction. On the Jewish New Year Day (9 September) in 1553, all the copies of the Talmud in the principal cities of Italy, in the printing establishments of Venice, and even in the distant island of Candia (Crete), were burned. He was restrained from the execution of the scheme by Cardinal Alexander Farnese who succeeded in bringing to light the true culprit.

Paul IV
Marcellus' successor, Paul IV, confirmed all the bulls against the Jews issued up to that time and added more oppressive measures, including a variety of prohibitions designed to condemn Jews to abject misery, depriving them of the means of sustenance, and denying them the exercise of all professions. The papal bull Cum nimis absurdum of 1555 created the Roman ghetto and required the wearing of yellow badges. The Jews were also forced to labor at the restoration of the walls of Rome without any compensation.

Cum nimis absurdum limited each ghetto in the Papal States to one synagogue. In the early 16th century, there were at least seven synagogues across Rome, each serving as the house of worship for distinct demographic subgroup: Roman Jews (Benè Romì), Sicilian Jews, Italian Jews (that were neither Benè Romì nor Sicilian), German Ashkenazim, French Provençal, Castilian Sephardim, and Catalan Sephardim.

Many Jews abandoned Rome and Ancona and went to Ferrara and Pesaro. Here the Duke of Urbino welcomed them graciously in the hope of directing the extensive commerce of the Levant to the new port of Pesaro, which was, at that time, exclusively in the hands of the Jews of Ancona. Among the many who were forced to leave Rome was the Marano Amato Lusitano, a distinguished physician, who had often attended Pope Julius III. He had even been invited to become physician to the King of Poland, but had declined the offer in order to remain in Italy.

Expulsion from Papal States
Paul IV was followed by the tolerant pope Pius IV, who was succeeded by Pius V, who restored all the anti-Jewish bulls of his predecessors—not only in his own immediate domains, but throughout the Christian world. In Lombardy, the expulsion of the Jews was threatened, and, although this extreme measure was not put into execution, they were tyrannized in countless ways. At Cremona and at Lodi their books were confiscated. In Genoa, from which the Jews were expelled at this time, an exception was made in favor of Joseph Hakohen. In his Emek Habachah he narrates the history of these persecutions. He had no desire to take advantage of the exception, though, and went to Casale Monferrato, where he was graciously received even by the Christians. In this same year the pope directed his persecutions against the Jews of Bologna. Many of the wealthiest Jews were imprisoned and tortured to force false confessions from them. When Rabbi Ishmael Ḥanina was being racked, he declared that should the pains of torture elicit from him any words that might be construed as casting reflection on Judaism, they would be false and null. Jews were forbidden to leave the city, but many succeeded in escaping by bribing the watchmen at the gates of the ghetto and of the city. The fugitives, together with their wives and children, repaired to the neighboring city of Ferrara. Then Pius V decided to banish the Jews from all his dominions, and, despite the enormous loss which was likely to result from this measure, and the remonstrances of influential and well-meaning cardinals, the Jews (in all about 1,000 families) were actually expelled from all the Papal States excepting Rome and Ancona. A few became Christians. The majority found refuge in other parts of Italy, e.g. Leghorn and Pitigliano.

Approval within the Republic of Venice

A great sensation was caused in Italy by the choice of a prominent Jew, Solomon of Udine, as Turkish ambassador to Venice who was selected to negotiate within that republic during July 1574. There was a pending decree of expulsion of the Jews by the leaders of several kingdoms within Italy, thereby making the Venetian Senate concerned if whether there would be difficulties collaborating with Solomon of Udine. However, through the influence of the Venetian diplomats themselves, and particularly of the Patrician, Marcantonio Barbaro of the noble Barbaro family, who esteemed Udine highly, Solomon was received with great honors at the Doge's Palace. In virtue of this, Udine received an exalted position within the Republic of Venice and was able to render great service to his coreligionists. Through his influence Jacob Soranzo, an agent of the Venetian Republic at Constantinople, came to Venice. Solomon was influential in having the decree of expulsion revoked within Italian kingdoms, and he furthermore obtained a promise from Venetian patricians that Jews would have a secure home within the Republic of Venice. Udine was eventually honored for his services and returned to Constantinople, leaving his son Nathan in Venice to be educated. Nathan was one of the first Jewish students to have studied at the University of Padua, under the inclusive admission policy established by Marcantonio Barbaro. The success of Udine inspired many Jews in the Ottoman Empire, particularly in Constantinople, where they had attained great prosperity.

Persecutions and confiscations
The position of the Jews of Italy at this time was pitiable; pope Paul IV and Pius V reduced them to the utmost humiliation and had materially diminished their numbers. In southern Italy there were almost none left; in each of the important communities of Rome, Venice, and Mantua there were about 2,000 Jews; while in all Lombardy there were hardly 1,000. Gregory XIII was not less fanatical than his predecessors; he noticed that, despite papal prohibition, Christians employed Jewish physicians; he therefore strictly prohibited the Jews from attending Christian patients, and threatened with the most severe punishment alike Christians who should have recourse to Hebrew practitioners, and Jewish physicians who should respond to the calls of Christians. Furthermore, the slightest assistance given to the Maranos of Portugal and Spain, in violation of the canonical laws, was sufficient to deliver the guilty one into the power of the Inquisition, which did not hesitate to condemn the accused to death. Gregory also induced the Inquisition to consign to the flames a large number of copies of the Talmud and of other Hebrew books. Special sermons, designed to convert the Jews, were instituted; and at these at least one-third of the Jewish community, men, women, and youths above the age of twelve, was forced to be present. The sermons were usually delivered by baptized Jews who had become friars or priests; and not infrequently the Jews, without any chance of protest, were forced to listen to such sermons in their own synagogues. These cruelties forced many Jews to leave Rome, and thus their number was still further diminished.

Varied fortunes
Under the following pope, Sixtus V (1585–1590), the condition of the Jews was somewhat improved. He repealed many of the regulations established by his predecessors, permitted Jews to reside in all parts of his realm, and gave Jewish physicians freedom to practice their profession. David de Pomis, an eminent physician, profited by this privilege and published a work in Latin, entitled De Medico Hebraeo, dedicated to Duke Francis of Urbino, in which he proved to the Jews their obligation to consider the Christians as brothers, to assist them, and to attend them. The Jews of Mantua, Milan, and Ferrara, taking advantage of the favorable disposition of the pope, sent to him an ambassador, Bezaleel Massarano, with a present of 2,000 scudi, to obtain from him permission to reprint the Talmud and other Jewish books, promising at the same time to expurgate all passages considered offensive to Christianity. Their demand was granted, partly through the support given by Lopez, a Marano, who administered the papal finances and who was in great favor with the pontiff. Scarcely had the reprinting of the Talmud been begun, and the conditions of its printing been arranged by the commission, when Sixtus died. His successor, Gregory XIV, was as well disposed to the Jews as Sixtus had been; but during his short pontificate he was almost always ill. Clement VIII (1592–1605), who succeeded him, renewed the anti-Jewish bulls of Paul IV and Pius V, and exiled the Jews from all his territories with the exception of Rome, Ancona, and Avignon; but, in order not to lose the commerce with the East, he gave certain privileges to the Turkish Jews. The exiles repaired to Tuscany, where they were favorably received by Duke Ferdinand dei Medici, who assigned to them the city of Pisa for residence, and by Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, at whose court Joseph da Fano, a Jew, was a favorite. They were again permitted to read the Talmud and other Hebrew books, provided that they were printed according to the rules of censorship approved by Sixtus V. From Italy, where these expurgated books were printed by thousands, they were sent to the Jews of other various countries.

Giuseppe Ciante (d. 1670), a leading Hebrew expert of his day and professor of theology and philosophy at the College of Saint Thomas in Rome was appointed in 1640 by Pope Urban VIII to the mission of preaching to the Jews of Rome (Predicatore degli Ebrei) in order to promote their conversion."  In the mid-1650s Ciantes wrote a "monumental bilingual edition of the first three Parts of Thomas Aquinas' Summa contra Gentiles, which includes the original Latin text and a Hebrew translation prepared by Ciantes, assisted by Jewish apostates, the Summa divi Thomae Aquinatis ordinis praedicatorum Contra Gentiles quam Hebraicè eloquitur....  Until the present this remains the only significant translation of a major Latin scholastic work in modern Hebrew."

In the ducal dominions
It was strange that under Philip II the Jews exiled from all parts of Spain were tolerated in the Duchy of Milan, then under Spanish rule. Such an inconsistency of policy was designed to work ill for the interests of the Jews. To avert this misfortune an eloquent ambassador, Samuel Coen, was sent to the king at Alessandria; but he was unsuccessful in his mission. The king, persuaded by his confessor, expelled the Jews from Milanese territory in the spring of 1597. The exiles, numbering about 1,000, were received at Mantua, Modena, Reggio, Verona, and Padua. The princes of the house of Este had always accorded favor and protection to the Jews, and were much beloved by them. Eleonora, a princess of this house, had inspired two Jewish poets; and when she was ill public prayers were said in the synagogues for her restoration to health. But misfortune overtook the Jews of Ferrara as well; for when Alfonso II., the last of the Este family, died, the Principality of Ferrara was incorporated in the dominions of the Church under Clement VIII., who decreed the banishment of the Jews. Aldobrandini, a relative of the pope, took possession of Ferrara in the pontiff's name. Seeing that all the commerce was in the hands of the Jews, he complied with their request for an exemption of five years from the decree, although this was much against the pope's wish.

The Mantuan Jews suffered seriously at the time of the Thirty Years' War. The Jews exiled from the papal dominions had repeatedly found refuge in Mantua, where the dukes of Gonzaga had accorded protection to them, as they had done to the Jews already resident there. The next to the last duke, although a cardinal, favored them sufficiently to enact a statute for the maintenance of order in the ghetto. After the death of the last of this house the right of succession was contested at the time of the Thirty Years' war, and the city was besieged by the German soldiery of Wallenstein. After a valiant defense, in which the Jews labored at the walls until the approach of the Sabbath, the city fell into the power of the besiegers, and for three days was at the mercy of fire and sword. The commander-in-chief, Altringer, forbade the soldiers to sack the ghetto, thereby hoping to secure the spoils for himself. The Jews were ordered to leave the city, taking with them only their personal clothing and three gold ducats per capita. There were retained enough Jews to act as guides to the places where their coreligionists were supposed to have hidden their treasures. Through three Jewish zealots these circumstances came to the knowledge of the emperor, who ordered the governor, Collalto, to issue a decree permitting the Jews to return and promising them the restoration of their goods. Only about 800, however, returned, the others having died.

The victories in Europe of the Turks, who brought their armies up to the very walls of Vienna in a 1683 siege, helped even in Italy to incite the Christian population against the Jews, who remained friendly to the Ottoman Empire. In Padua, in 1683, the Jews were in great danger because of the agitation fomented against them by the cloth-weavers. A violent tumult broke out; the lives of the Jews were seriously menaced; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the governor of the city succeeded in rescuing them, in obedience to a rigorous order from Venice. For several days thereafter the ghetto had to be especially guarded.

Reaction after Napoleon

Among the first schools to adopt the Reform projects of Hartwig Wessely were those of Trieste, Venice, and Ferrara. Under the influence of the liberal religious policy of Napoleon I, the Jews of Italy, like those of France, were emancipated. The supreme power of the popes was broken: they had no longer time to give to framing anti-Jewish enactments, and they no longer directed canonical laws against the Jews.

To the Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon at Paris (1807), Italy sent four deputies: Abraham Vita da Cologna; Isaac Benzion Segre, rabbi of Vercelli; Graziadio Neppi, physician and rabbi of Cento; and Jacob Israel Karmi, rabbi of Reggio. Of the four rabbis assigned to the committee which was to draw up the answers to the twelve questions proposed to the Assembly of Notables, two, Cologna and Segre, were Italians, and were elected respectively first and second vice-presidents of the Sanhedrin. But the liberty acquired by the Jews under Napoleon was of short duration; it disappeared with his downfall.

Pope Pius VII, on regaining possession of his realms, reinstalled the Inquisition; he deprived the Jews of every liberty and confined them again in ghettos. Such became to a greater or less extent their condition in all the states into which Italy was then divided; in Rome they were again forced to listen to proselytizing sermons.

In the year 1829, consequent upon an edict of the Emperor Francis I, there was opened in Padua, with the cooperation of Venice, of Verona, and of Mantua, the first Italian rabbinical college, in which Lelio della Torre and Samuel David Luzzatto taught. Luzzatto was a man of great intellect; he wrote in pure Hebrew upon philosophy, history, literature, criticism, and grammar. Many distinguished rabbis came from the rabbinical college of Padua. Zelman, Moses Tedeschi, and Castiglioni followed at Trieste the purposes and the principles of Luzzatto's school. At the same time, Elijah Benamozegh, a man of great knowledge and the author of several works, distinguished himself in the old rabbinical school at Leghorn.

Nineteenth century

The return to medieval servitude after the Italian restoration did not last long; and the Revolution of 1848, which convulsed all Europe, brought great advantages to the Jews. Although this was followed by restoration of the Papal States only four months later, in early 1849, yet the persecutions and the violence of past times had to a large extent disappeared. The last outrage against the Jews of Italy was connected with the case of Edgardo Mortara, which occurred in Bologna in 1858. In 1859 most of the papal states were annexed into the united Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emanuel II.  Except in and near Rome, where oppression lasted until the end of the papal dominion (20 September 1870), the Jews obtained full emancipation. In behalf of their country the Jews with great ardor sacrificed life and property in the memorable campaigns of 1859, 1866, and 1870. Of the many who deserve mention in this connection may be singled out Isaac Pesaro Maurogonato. He was minister of finance to the self-proclaimed Venetian Republic of San Marco (whose president, Daniele Manin came from a Jewish family that had converted to Christianity in 1759) during the war of 1848 against Austria, and his grateful country erected to him a memorial in bronze. Also erected in the palace of the doges there was a marble bust of Samuele Romanin, a celebrated Jewish historian of Venice. Florence, too, has commemorated a modern Jewish poet, Solomon Fiorentino, by placing a marble tablet upon the house in which he was born. The secretary and faithful friend of Count Cavour was the Piedmontese Isaac Artom; while L'Olper, later rabbi of Turin, and also the friend and counselor of Mazzini, was one of the most courageous advocates of Italian independence. The names of the Jewish soldiers who died in the cause of Italian liberty were placed along with those of their Christian fellow soldiers on the monuments erected in their honour.

Twentieth century

Early twentieth century

Italian prime minister Luigi Luzzatti, who took office in 1910, was one of the world's first Jewish heads of government (not converted to Christianity). Another Jew, Ernesto Nathan served as mayor of Rome from 1907 to 1913. By 1902, out of 350 senators, there were six Jews. By 1920, there were nineteen Jewish senators.

Pope John Paul II gave access to some formerly secret Vatican Archives to scholars, one of whom, David Kertzer, used information thus obtained in his book The Popes Against the Jews. According to that book, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the popes and many Catholic bishops and Catholic publications consistently made a distinction between "good anti-Semitism" and "bad anti-Semitism". The "bad" kind directed hatred against Jews merely because of their descent. That was considered un-Christian, in part because the church held that its message was for all of mankind equally, and any person of any ancestry could become a Christian. The "good" kind denounced alleged Jewish plots to gain control of the world by controlling newspapers, banks, schools, etc., or otherwise attributed various evils to Jews. Kertzer's book details many instances in which Catholic publications denounced such alleged plots, and then, when criticized for inciting hatred of Jews, would remind people that the Catholic Church condemned the "bad" kind of anti-Semitism.

Approximately 5,000 Italian Jews were conscripted to the Royal Italian Army during World War I and about half of them served as officers (this was due to the average higher level of education among Italian Jews). About 420 were killed in action or went missing in action; about 700 received military decorations.

Jews during the Fascist era

Jews fervently supported the Risorgimento, identified as Italian nationalists, proved valiant as soldiers in World War I, and, in terms of their relatively small numerical presence within the general population, they later went on to form a disproportionate part of the Fascist Party from its beginnings down to 1938.

Until Benito Mussolini's alliance with Adolf Hitler, he had always denied any antisemitism within the National Fascist Party (PNF). In the early 1920s, Mussolini wrote an article which stated that Fascism would never elevate a "Jewish Question" and that "Italy knows no antisemitism and we believe that it will never know it" and then elaborated "let us hope that Italian Jews will continue to be sensible enough so as not to give rise to antisemitism in the only country where it has never existed". In 1932 during a conversation with Emil Ludwig, Mussolini described antisemitism as a "German vice" and stated: "There was 'no Jewish Question' in Italy and could not be one in a country with a healthy system of government". On several occasions, Mussolini spoke positively about Jews and the Zionist movement. Mussolini had initially rejected Nazi racism, especially the idea of a master race, as "arrant nonsense, stupid and idiotic".

Mussolini originally distinguished his position from Hitler's fanatical racism while affirming that he himself was a Zionist. More broadly, he even proposed building a mosque in Rome as a sign that Italy was the Protector of Islam, a move blocked by a horrified Pope. German propagandists often derided what they called Italy's "Kosher Fascism".  There were however some Fascists, Roberto Farinacci and Giovanni Preziosi  being prime examples, who held fringe and extremely racist views before Fascist Italy formed its alliance with Nazi Germany. Preziosi was the first to publish an Italian edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, in 1921, which was published almost simultaneously with a version issued by Umberto Benigni in supplements to Fede e Ragione.. However, the book had little impact until the mid-1930s.

It has also been indicated that Benito Mussolini had his own, if somewhat different from Nazism, brand of racist views.  Mussolini attempted to reconcile the divisive racial discourse which had developed within the nation by asserting that he had already resolved the Southern question and as a result, he asserted that all Italians, not just Northerners, belonged to the "dominant race" which was the Aryan race.

Mussolini originally held the view that a small contingent of Italian Jews had lived in Italy "since the days of the Kings of Rome" (a reference to the Bené Roma) and as a result, they should "remain undisturbed". One of Mussolini's mistresses, Margherita Sarfatti, was Jewish. There were even some Jews in the National Fascist Party, such as Ettore Ovazza who founded the Jewish Fascist paper La Nostra Bandiera in 1935. Mussolini once declared "Anti-Semitism does not exist in Italy... Italians of Jewish birth have shown themselves good citizens and they fought bravely in [World War I]."

Despite the presence of a Fascist regime, some Jewish refugees considered Italy a safe haven in the first half of the 1930s. During that period, the country hosted up to 11,000 persecuted Jews, including 2,806 Jews who were of German descent. However, as early as 1934, Jewish personnel were removed from institutions and state organizations. 1934 also saw press campaigns against anti-fascist Jews, in which they were equated with Zionists. Between 1936 and 1938, the Fascist regime-endorsed anti-Semitic propaganda was mounting in the press and it was even mounting in graffiti. Equally, scholars of eugenetics, statistics, anthropology and demographics began to outline racist theories.

The anti-Semitic metamorphosis of Fascism culminated in the racial laws of 18 September 1938. Although they did not directly threaten Jewish lives, these laws excluded Jews from public education, the military and the government, and they also made it practically impossible for them to engage in most economic activities. Jews could not hire non-Jews. Marriages between Jews and non-Jews were also prohibited. Not all Italian Fascists supported discrimination: while the pro-German, anti-Jewish Roberto Farinacci and Giovanni Preziosi strongly pushed for them, Italo Balbo and Dino Grandi strongly opposed the Racial Laws. Balbo, in particular, regarded antisemitism as having nothing to do with fascism and staunchly opposed the antisemitic laws.

At least until the promulgation of the 1938 racial laws, a number of Italian Jews were sympathetic to the regime and occupied significant offices and positions in politics and economy. It is estimated that 230 Italian Jews participated in the October 1922 March on Rome that brought about Mussolini's ascent to power. The 1938 Italian census recorded 590 Jewish "old fighters" who had joined the National Fascist Party before its seizure of power in 1922.

Examples of Italian Jews that operated within the regime until the enactment of the racial laws include Giorgio Morpurgo (lieutenant colonel, staff officer of the Corpo Truppe Volontarie), Aldo Finzi, Renzo Ravenna (podestà of Ferrara and personal friend of Italo Balbo), Ettore Ovazza and Guido Jung (the latter however eventually converted to Christianity in 1938). Furthermore, Margherita Sarfatti, a writer and socialite, was a close friend and possibly mistress of Mussolini and a propaganda and political adviser of his. She authored the popular biography of the Italian dictator entitled "Dux". Giorgio Bassani, a Jewish Italian author, has given an insight into the life of the Jewish middle class during the Fascist regime. Michele Sarfatti has written a thorough compendium of the situation of the Italian Jewish community under the fascist regime in his book The Jews in Mussolini's Italy: from equality to persecution. On the other hand, a significant number of Italian Jews were also active in anti-fascist organizations, and some joined the Resistenza: among them the most significant were the brothers Carlo and Nello Rosselli, Franco Momigliano, Leone Ginzburg and the brothers Ennio and Emanuele Artom.

The Fascist regime also helped, at the request of Vladimir Jabotinski, the establishment in 1934 of a navy officer training camp in Civitavecchia for Mandatory Palestine Jews, laying the foundations of the Israeli Navy. By helping the Zionist cause, Mussolini hoped to gain influence in the Middle East at the expense of the British Empire.

The Italian colonial authorities in Ethiopia after the conquest of this African state came into contact with the Beta Israel community and greatly favoured them, enacting special laws to protect them from offences and violences routinely committed against them by Christian and Muslim Ethiopians. The regime also encouraged cultural exchanges between the Italian Jewish community and the Ethiopian Jews. Incidentally, the first scholar to describe using a modern, scientific approach this ethnic group had been Filosseno Luzzatto, an Italki Jew. Starting in 1843, he collected and selected data about the Falasha.

On 28 July 1938, Pope Pius XI made a speech at Propaganda Fide college, expressing the view that mankind is "a single, large, universal human race" with "no room for special races", and the Alliance Israélite Universelle thanked him for that speech.

In September of that year in a speech to Belgian pilgrims, Pius XI proclaimed:
Mark well that in the Catholic Mass, Abraham is our Patriarch and forefather. Anti-Semitism is incompatible with the lofty thought which that fact expresses. It is a movement with which we Christians can have nothing to do. No, no I say to you it is impossible for a Christian to take part in anti-Semitism. It is inadmissible. Through Christ and in Christ we are the spiritual progeny of Abraham. Spiritually we are all Semites.
While some Catholic prelates tried to find compromises with Fascism, several others spoke out against racism. The Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Schuster, who had supported Amici Israel, condemned racism as "heresy" and an "international danger ... not lesser than bolshevism" in his 13 November 1938 homily at Milan Cathedral.

After Italy entered the war in 1940, Jewish refugees living in Italy were interned in Italian concentration camps such as the Campagna concentration camp and the concentration camp at Ferramonti di Tarsia. In 1942, the Italian military commander in Croatia refused to hand over Jews in his zone to the Nazis. In January 1943, the Italians refused to cooperate with the Nazis in rounding up the Jews living in the occupied zone of France under their control, and in March prevented the Nazis from deporting Jews in their zone. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop complained to Benito Mussolini that "Italian military circles... lack a proper understanding of the Jewish question."

The deportations of Italian Jews to Nazi death camps began after September 1943, when the Italian Royal government
capitulated to the Allies and, in response, the Germans forcibly disarmed the Italian armed forces. However, by the time they got to the Campagna internment camp, the inmates had already fled to the mountains with the help of the local inhabitants. Rev. Aldo Brunacci of Assisi, under the direction of his bishop, Giuseppe Nicolini, saved all the Jews who sought refuge in Assisi. This effort became the basis for the novel The Assisi Underground. In October 1943, Nazis raided the Jewish ghetto in Rome. In November 1943, the Jews of Genoa and Florence were deported to Auschwitz. Jews of Friuli were deported to Auschwitz via Risiera di San Sabba concentration camp. It is estimated that 7,682 Italian Jews became victims of the Holocaust.

The attitude of the Italian Fascists (in their Italian Social Republic German puppet state in northern Italy) towards Italian Jews drastically changed in November 1943, after the Fascist authorities declared them to be of "enemy nationality" during the Congress of Verona and begun to actively participate in the prosecution and arrest of Jews. However, this prosecution by Italian authorities did not extend to people descended from mixed marriages. Initially, after the Italian surrender, the Italian police had only assisted in the round up of Jews when requested to do so by the German authorities. But after the , in which Jews were declared to be foreigners and, in times of war, enemies, this changed. Police Order No. 5 on 30 November 1943, issued by the Minister of the Interior of the RSI Guido Buffarini Guidi, ordered the Italian police to arrest Jews and confiscate their property.

After September 1943, when the Italian northern half effectively came under German occupation, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, was appointed as the Supreme SS and Police Leader in Italy tasked with overseeing the final solution, the genocide of the Jews. Wolff assembled a group of SS personnel under him that had a vast experience in the extermination of Jews in Eastern Europe. Odilo Globocnik, appointed as Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic coastal area, was responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews and Gypsies in Lublin, Poland, before being sent to Italy. Karl Brunner was appointed as SS and Police Leader in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Willy Tensfeld in Monza for upper and western Italy and Karl-Heinz Bürger was placed in charge of anti-partisan operations.

The security police and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) came under the command of Wilhelm Harster, based in Verona, who had previously held the same position in the Netherlands. Theodor Dannecker, previously active in the deportation of Greek Jews in the part of Greece occupied by Bulgaria, was made chief of the Judenreferat of the SD and was tasked with the deportation of the Italian Jews. Not seen as efficient enough, he was replaced by Friedrich Boßhammer, who was, like Dannecker, closely associated with Adolf Eichmann. Dannecker committed suicide after being captured in December 1945 while Boßhammer assumed a false name after the war. He was discovered and sentenced to life in jail in West Germany in 1972 but died before ever serving any time.

General Kurt Mälzer, the German commander in Rome, died in 1952. The Austrian Ludwig Koch was the head of the Gestapo and the Fascist Italian police in Rome and received three years imprisonment after the war.

Jews after the war

It is estimated that about 10,000 Italian Jews were deported to concentration and death camps, of whom 7,700 perished in the Holocaust, out of a pre-war Jewish population that amounted to 58,500 (46,500 by Jewish religion and 12,000 converted or non-Jewish sons of mixed marriages). The surviving community was able to maintain its distinctiveness throughout the following decades and continued to have a significant role in the fields of politics, literature, science and industry. Writers such as Giorgio Bassani, Natalia Ginzburg and Primo Levi were among the leading figures of the Italian culture in the post-war years.

A significant event that marked the Italian Jewish community was the conversion to Catholicism of the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, in 1945.

The size of the Italian Jewish community has faced a slight but continuous drop throughout the postwar decades, partly because of emigration to Israel or the United States and partly because of low birth rates, assimilation and intermarriage, especially in the small congregations of the North. A significant increase occurred during the 1970s due to the arrival of Iranian Jews (following the ousting of the Shah) and North African Jews (mainly coming from Libya in the aftermath of Gaddafi's seizure of power).

21st century

In 2007 the Jewish population in Italy numbered around 45–46,000 people, decreased to 42,850 in 2015 (36,150 with Italian citizenship) and to 41,200 in 2017 (36,600 with Italian citizenship and 25–28,000 affiliated with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities), mainly because of low birth rates and emigration due to the financial crisis. There have been occasional antisemitic incidents in the last decades. On 13 December 2017 the Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (MEIS) was inaugurated in Ferrara. The museum traces the history of the Jewish people in Italy starting from the Roman empire, and going through the Holocaust during the 20th century.

Demographics

In 2007, there were approximately 45,000 Jews in Italy, of a total Italian population of 60 million people (i.e., 0.05-0.1% of the total), not counting recent migrations from Eastern Europe. The greatest concentrations were in Rome (20,000 people) and Milan (12,000 people).

See also

History of the Jews in Italy by region
 History of the Jews in Apulia
 History of the Jews in Calabria
 History of the Jews in Florence
 History of the Jews in Livorno
 History of the Jews in Naples
 History of the Jews in Sardinia
 History of the Jews in Sicily
 History of the Jews in Trieste
 History of the Jews in Turin
 History of the Jews in Venice

Other
 History of the Jews in the Roman Empire
 Expulsion of the Jews from Sicily
 Religion in Italy
 Christianity in Italy
 Islam in Italy
 Roman Ghetto
 Venetian Ghetto
 List of Italian Jews
 List of Italian locations of Jewish history
 List of Italian religious minority politicians
 Bologna Guild of Silk Weavers A Jewish guild of silk weavers who endeavored in Hebrew fine printing (1537-1540).
 Senigaglia family A very old Italian Jewish family that can be traced back over 800 years.

References

Bibliography
 Bassani, Giorgio, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Harvest/HJB, 1972; originally pub. as Il Giardino dei Finzi-Continis by Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Turin).
 Bettina, Elizabeth, It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust (Thomas Nelson Inc, 2011)
 Collotti, Enzo,Il Fascismo e gli ebrei. Le leggi razziali in Italia (Bari / Roma, Editori Laterza, 2003).
 D'Amico, Giovanna, Quando l'eccezione diventa norma. La reintegrazione degli ebrei nell'Italia postfascista (Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2005).
 Druker, Jonathan, Primo Levi and Humanism After Auschwitz – Posthumanist Reflections (Palgrave MacMillan, NY, 2009).
 Feinstein, Wiley, The Civilization of the Holocaust in Italy: Poets, Artists, Saints, Anti-Semites (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2004).
 Ferrara degli Uberti, Carlotta, "Fare gli ebrei italiani. Autorappesentazioni di una minoranza (1861–1918)", (Bologna, Il Mulino 2010).
 Harrowitz, Nancy A., Anti-Semitism, Misogyny, and the Logic of Cultural Difference: Cesare Lombroso and Matilde Serao (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1994).
 Jäger, Gudrun / Novelli-Glaab, Liana (eds.): Judentum und Antisemitismus im modernen Italien (Berlin, 2007).
 Levi, Primo, The Periodic Table (Schocken Books, NY, 1984; originally pub. as Il Sistema Periodico by Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Turino, 1972).   (paperback)
 Marzano, Arturo / Schwarz, Guri, "Attentato alla sinagoga. Roma 9 ottobre 1982. Il conflitto israelo-palestinese e l'Italia" (Rome, Viella 2013).
 Pacifici Noja, Ugo G. / Pacifici, Giorgio eds. Ebreo chi? Sociologia degli ebrei italiani ( Jewish who? A sociology of the Italian Jews today), with contributions of Umberto Abenaim, Massimiliano Boni, Angelica Edna Calo Livne, Enzo Campelli, Renata Conforty Orvieto, Sergio Della Pergola, Natan Orvieto, Rossana Ottolenghi, Giorgio Pacifici, Ugo G. Pacifici Noja, Vittorio Pavoncello, Gian Stefano Spoto, Claudio Vercelli, with a foreword of Furio Colombo, Jaca Book, Milan, 2017
 Pavan, Ilaria, Il podestà ebreo. La storia di Renzo Ravenna tra fascismo e leggi razziali (Bari / Roma, Editori Laterza, 2006).
 Pavan, Ilaria, Tra indifferenza e oblio. Le conseguenze economiche delle leggi razziali in Italia 1938–1970 (Firenze, 2004).
 Pavan, Ilaria / Schwarz, Guri (a cura di), Gli ebrei in Italia tra persecuzione fascista e reintegrazione postbellica (Firenze, 2001).
 Sarfatti, Michele, Gli Ebrei nell'Italia fascista. Vicende, identità, persecuzione (Torino, 2000).
 Sarfatti, Michele, The Jews in Mussolini's Italy: From Equality to Persecution (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006) (Series in Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History).
 Schwarz, Guri, After Mussolini: Jewish Life and Jewish Memories in Post-Fascist Italy (London-Portland, OR: Vallentine Mitchell, 2012).
 Schächter, Elizabeth, "The Enigma of Svevo's Jewishness: Trieste and the Jewish Cultural Tradition," Italian Studies, 50 (1995), 24–47.
 Segre, Dan Vittorio, Memoirs of a Fortunate Jew: An Italian Story (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2008).
 Zimmerman, Joshua D. (ed), The Jews of Italy under Fascist and Nazi Rule 1922–1945 (Cambridge, CUP, 2005).
 Zuccotti, Susan, The Italians and the Holocaust – Persecution, Rescue, Survival (Basic Books, NY, 1987)

External links
 Fascist Italy and the Jews: Myth versus Reality an online lecture by Dr. Iael Nidam-Orvieto of Yad Vashem
 The Jewish History of Rome Rabbi Menachem Levine, Aish.com
 Listing of all Jewish synagogues, schools, restaurants, etc... in Italy
 Italy's Jews survive, even thrive, despite problems with high intermarriage rate 19 November 1999
 Italy and the Jews – Timeline Jewish Virtual Library
 Chabad-Lubavitch Centers in Italy

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History of the Jews in Italy


Oak Ridge Cemetery is an American cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

The Lincoln Tomb, where Abraham Lincoln, his wife and all but one of their children lie, is here, as are the graves of other prominent Illinois figures. Opened in 1860, it was the third and is now the only public cemetery in Springfield, after the City Cemetery and Hutchinson.

The cemetery was designed by William Saunders in the Rural Cemetery Landscape Lawn style. The location was chosen for its topography, including rolling hills, key to this style. The many eponymous oak trees cover a ridge bordering low-lying Spring Creek, a landscape unusual in central Illinois. The newest, southwest section opened after 1945. Its design follows the Memorial Park style, in which roadways are wide enough for motor vehicles.

Oak Ridge has a Korean War memorial, the World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial and the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum is adjacent.

Notable burials
 William Henry Bissell
 Jacob Bunn
 John Whitfield Bunn
 Daniel Pope Cook
 John Cook
 Shelby Moore Cullom
 Jesse K. Dubois
 Ninian Edwards, only governor of the Illinois Territory
 William Lee D. Ewing
 Nellie Grant – daughter of President Ulysses S. Grant
 William Herndon
 Elijah Iles
 William Jayne
 John L. Lewis – President of the United Mine Workers from 1919 to 1960
 Abraham Lincoln – sixteenth President of the United States during the Civil War
 Mary Todd Lincoln – Abraham's wife
 Fleetwood Lindley – the last person to have looked upon Lincoln's face in September 1901
 Vachel Lindsay
 John Alexander McClernand
 Alfred Orendorff
 John Carroll Power – first custodian of Lincoln's Tomb
 Alexander Starne – Illinois Secretary of State and Illinois Treasurer
 John T. Stuart – U.S. Congressman, lawyer, law partner of Abraham Lincoln
 John Riley Tanner
 Arthur Harrison Wilson (Medal of Honor)

Gallery

References

External links

 Illinois Ancestors – Oak Ridge Cemetery
 Oak Ridge Cemetery – City of Springfield
 Graveyards.com – photos

Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois
Monuments and memorials in Illinois
National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Illinois
Tourist attractions in Springfield, Illinois
Abraham Lincoln
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois
Rural cemeteries
Tombs of presidents of the United States

Oak Ridge Cemetery


Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a 2008 action-adventure video game based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The game was released in October 2008 across multiple platforms, and encompasses three drastically different versions: one released for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360, which features an open world and non-linear gameplay; one for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable (titled Spider-Man: Web of Shadows – Amazing Allies Edition), which is a 2.5D side-scrolling beat 'em up; and one for the Nintendo DS, a Metroidvania-style beat 'em up. All three versions have several common elements, such as moral choices that alter the narrative, the ability to summon allies during fights, and a similar plot, despite different characters being featured. Web of Shadows' storyline is significantly darker than most previous Spider-Man games, as it revolves around a symbiote invasion threatening Manhattan, which Spider-Man must stop with the help of several unlikely allies.

Upon release, the game received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics, who singled out the boss fights, destructive combat, original story, gameplay and open-ended nature. However, the game's choice system received mixed reviews; although some praised how the player is able to create a dynamic experience with their choices, others were critical of the system's limitations. In addition, reviewers criticized the storyline's poor execution, bothersome camera controls, the inability to free-roam after completing the main storyline, lip-syncing issues and the subpar graphics.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, along with most other games published by Activision that had used the Marvel license, was de-listed and removed from all digital storefronts on January 1, 2014. It was the only Spider-Man game developed by Shaba Games and was assisted by Treyarch (their last time on a Spider-Man game), as the license was then passed to Beenox, who went on to develop several Spider-Man games of their own, beginning with Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions in 2010.

Gameplay

Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360
Spider-Man Web of Shadows is a third-person action-adventure video game set in an open-world outer area of Manhattan. The gameplay is very similar to that of previous Spider-Man titles (mainly Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and Ultimate Spider-Man), as it revolves around combat and exploration. Players control Spider-Man and can web swing, web zip, crawl walls, and use the 'spider-sense' to identify and lock onto enemies. The combat has been significantly improved compared to previous games, with players now able to fight enemies not only on the ground, but also on walls and in the air. The game introduces a "web strike" mechanic, which allows Spider-Man to attach a web line to the nearest enemy and pull himself towards them to deal damage.

While free roaming, players may stumble upon various random events, such as gang fights, injured civilians that need to be taken to the hospital, and, in the later stages of the game, symbiote nests that must be destroyed. While entirely optional and not required for completing the game, these events reward the player with XP, which can be used to unlock new fighting moves/combos for Spider-Man. Players can also earn XP from simply playing through the main story, completing challenges (such as defeating a given number of enemies), and finding collectibles hidden around the map. Collectibles also increase Spider-Man's health bar and web swinging speed.

The player is able to switch between Spider-Man's traditional red and blue suit and the black symbiote suit at any time during gameplay. Each suit provides a different gameplay style, and features individual upgrades. Chris Scholz from Shaba Games commented that the developers "worked on really separating the black and red suits to give the player a different feel". For example, while wearing the red suit, Spider-Man is faster and more agile with his attacks, whereas symbiote black suit Spider-Man is stronger and more destructive.

At specific points in the story, the player is presented with choices that affect Spider-Man's morality. This is reflected in the 'reputation bar', which becomes red when Spider-Man has a positive reputation, and black when the reputation is negative. At higher reputation levels, Spider-Man is viewed as a hero, and civilians will act friendly towards him and cheer him on; at lower reputation levels, civilians will cower in fear in Spider-Man's presence or run away. The reputation bar also affects which allies Spider-Man can summon during fights: at high reputation levels, superheroes such as Luke Cage, Moon Knight, and Wolverine can be summoned, whereas at low reputation levels, only villains like Black Cat, Vulture, Rhino, and Electro will come to Spider-Man's aid.

The mini-map on the screen is also different from the style used in previous Spider-Man games. The traditional 2-D overhead view has been removed, replaced by a new 3D map with an "X", "Y" and "Z" axis which shows the player's position in three-dimensional space (north and south, as well as vertical position). Also, as a Wii exclusive, there are 6 alternate costumes (Spider-Carnage for the black suit, and Spider-Armor, Ben Reilly, Spider-Man 2099, Cosmic Spider-Man, and Iron Spider for the red suit).

Although the player is unable to free-roam after the storyline's completion, this can be achieved through a secret method, which has the player watch the credits twice. Afterwards, when they select to continue the game, the player will start a new game, but will retain all their previous upgrades; this essentially acts as a New Game Plus mode.

PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions were released as Spider-Man: Web of Shadows – Amazing Allies Edition and are drastically different from the console and PC version. These versions do not feature an open world, and are instead 2.5D side-scrolling brawlers. Players can alternate between Spider-Man's two costumes at any time during gameplay, with the game providing several scenarios in which one suit is more useful than the other. For example, there are several weak walls which can only be destroyed by the black suited Spider-Man. Each suit has individual upgrades, which unlock new combos or increase Spider-Man's health bar.

Like its title suggests, this version puts more emphasis on the ally system than the other versions, providing the biggest variety of allies and consumable power-ups. Instead of cutscenes, the game features dialogue trees, during which the player must select Spider-Man's replies from several different options, which can make Spider-Man appear respectful, mean, or neutral. Depending on which reply is chosen, the player will receive upgrade points for Spider-Man's red suit, black suit, or both. These sections function similarly to the moral choices in the console and PC version, and can have a major impact on the game's story.

Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS version is also a 2.5D scrolling beat 'em up. Like in the other versions, Spider-Man has both his traditional red and blue suit and his symbiote black suit, which the player can switch between at any time during gameplay and which offer different playstyles (the red suit provides faster movement and attacks, whereas the black suit is slower, but has more devastating attacks). Players earn XP from defeating enemies, which can be used to unlock new combos for both suits. As the players progress through the story, they will also obtain upgrades that will allow them to explore more of the open world map and eventually reach the end of the game, similarly to the Castlevania and Metroid franchises.

The choice system has been redesigned to only consist of players choosing which mission to undergo next. This version features the fewest allies out of all the versions, with a total of four allies: Black Cat, the Green Goblin, Nightcrawler, and Venom. It also features an exclusive revival system where, if the player's health depletes, they can spend one "life point" to attempt to revive the fallen Spider-Man by using the Touch Screen to draw health orbs to him, while poking at poison orbs to destroy them. The revival will be successful if Spider-Man receives enough health orbs before a time limit is reached.

Plot

Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360
The game begins with Spider-Man (Michael Vaughn) looking for Mary Jane Watson (Dana Seltzer) amidst the symbiote invasion in Manhattan. After finding her with Luke Cage (Robert Wisdom), he is attacked by an unknown assailant. Four days prior, Spider-Man has an encounter with Venom (Keith Szarabajka), during which part of the latter's symbiote attaches itself to Spider-Man, recreating his black suit. Spider-Man discovers he has more control over the symbiote, and easily defeats Venom, who flees afterward. Later, while helping Luke Cage deal with a gang war in Harlem, Spider-Man finds evidence that the Kingpin (Gregg Berger) is responsible for the war. During a parley between the two gangs' leaders (James C. Mathis III and Isaac C. Singleton Jr.) and Cage, Spider-Man can either present the evidence in order to end the war peacefully, or let the gangs finish each other off.

Afterwards, Spider-Man heads to Fisk Tower to confront the Kingpin, only to witness Black Cat (Tricia Helfer) leaving and begin chasing her. With assistance from Moon Knight (Robin Atkin Downes), Spider-Man defeats Black Cat, who reveals she is working as a double agent to bring down the Kingpin in an attempt to gain Spider-Man's affection. Returning or rejecting Black Cat's feelings, Spider-Man join forces with either her or Moon Knight to dismantle the Kingpin's operations, including his production of Goblin gliders, overseen by the Vulture (Kristoffer Tabori). During a fight with the Kingpin's men, Spider-Man is attacked by several symbiote-infected civilians, and decides to investigate. He encounters Wolverine (Steve Blum), who is also hunting symbiotes and mistakes Spider-Man for one, but the two settle their differences after a brief fight. Spider-Man's investigation leads him to Venom, who has been abducting and infecting civilians with his symbiote, but he escapes once again. As more people become infected, a S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by Black Widow (Salli Saffioti) sets up quarantine camps across Manhattan. Electro (Liam O'Brien) rampages through them in search of his sister but is defeated by Spider-Man, and escapes after being infected by a symbiote.

Unable to contact any scientific genius, Spider-Man reluctantly breaks the Tinkerer (William Utay) out of Ryker's Island, with help from an incarcerated Rhino (Fred Tatasciore), so that he would create a device to destroy the symbiotes without harming the hosts. However, by this point the symbiotes have taken over Manhattan, forcing S.H.I.E.L.D. to isolate it from the rest of New York. While S.H.I.E.L.D. constructs the Tinkerer's device, Spider-Man assists with various operations, such as persuading the Kingpin to aid S.H.I.E.L.D. and defeating Symbiote Electro, who also agrees to help after Spider-Man removes his symbiote. Spider-Man also defends the S.H.I.E.L.D. base at Stark Tower from a symbiote attack, assists Moon Knight in protecting Spector Tower, and aids Wolverine with a civilian evacuation. During the evacuation, Wolverine gets infected by a symbiote, but Spider-Man defeats and rescues him, potentially ripping him in half under the black suit's influence.

After assisting Mary Jane and Luke Cage with escorting civilians from Harlem to Fisk Tower, Spider-Man is devastated to learn the two have gone missing, and heads off to find them, leading to the game's opening sequence. The person who attacked him is revealed to be Symbiote Black Cat, whom he defeats with Mary Jane's help. However, Black Cat is severely injured in the process, forcing Spider-Man to leave her in Mary Jane's care, or infect her with a symbiote to heal her, which upsets Mary Jane. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. installs the Tinkerer's completed device, but Symbiote Vulture leads an aerial assault to destroy it. After defeating Symbiote Vulture, Spider-Man either activates the device, which eliminates all the symbiotes in Manhattan, including his black suit, or destroys it at Vulture's urgings, who encourages him to rule over the symbiotes.

Either way, Spider-Man learns Venom is attacking the Helicarrier and proceeds to plant explosives across the doomed aircraft, before being confronted by a giant, five-headed Venom. After destroying four heads and failing to kill Venom with a Helicarrier turret, Spider-Man persuades Eddie Brock to come out of Venom and pay for his actions. After Brock dies, either at Spider-Man's hands or by committing a heroic sacrifice, Spider-Man escapes from the Helicarrier, just as the explosives detonate, destroying the aircraft and Venom.

In the aftermath, Spider-Man either oversees Manhattan's return to normal, while reconciling with Mary Jane or hoping that she will forgive him; or takes over the island as the new symbiote leader, alone or with Black Cat at his side. In the latter scenario, Black Widow, the Kingpin, the Tinkerer, and Symbiote Wolverine strike an alliance to eliminate Spider-Man.

PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable
After an encounter between Spider-Man and Venom, the latter inexplicably explodes, leaving no trace of Eddie Brock and causing Spider-Man to regain his symbiote black suit. Later, Spider-Man is surprised when Nick Fury calls him and reveals that Venom has infested Manhattan with his symbiote, forcing S.H.I.E.L.D. to quarantine the city. He also explains that Spider-Man's previous encounters with the symbiote gives him more control over it, though he warns him that the symbiote can still influence his behavior. Tasked with collecting pieces for a sonic generator that can counter the symbiotes, Spider-Man first goes after the Shocker (Liam O'Brien) to obtain his vibro gauntlets. Next, having been informed by the Kingpin, who is also trying to stop the symbiotes, that Spencer Smythe and A.I.M. are working on a secret project involving vibranium, Spider-Man infiltrates A.I.M.'s underground lab through the sewers. Along the way, he must avoid traps set by Kraven the Hunter (Dwight Schultz) and eventually confront him. Inside A.I.M.'s lab, Spider-Man encounters J. Jonah Jameson (Daran Norris), who was captured and cloned as part of a plot by Smythe to discredit both him and Spider-Man. After releasing either Jameson or his clone, Spider-Man defeats Rhino, who was hired to guard the lab, and escapes with the vibranium.

Returning to Manhattan, Spider-Man encounters Luke Cage, who suggests teaming up to fight the symbiotes. While doing so, Spider-Man learns of the Tinkerer's plan to spread the infestation to other countries, and has the option to redirect a train full of symbiotes towards Cage to make his own travel through the city easier. After defeating Cage, who was either infected by a symbiote or is trying to remove Spider-Man's black suit, believing it has corrupted him, Spider-Man infiltrates the Tinkerer's lab, encountering a brainwashed Venom, who was captured by the Tinkerer for experimentation. Eventually, Spider-Man defeats the Tinkerer and foils his plan, despite the villain's escape.

Afterwards, Spider-Man arrives on a symbiote-infested Helicarrier to build the sonic generator, but is forced to assist with the evacuation and reactivate the ship's defense systems. He encounters the Jackal (Greg Baldwin), hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. out of desperation for someone to analyze the symbiotes, who reveals that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to weaponize the symbiotes and that he is in league with Spencer Smythe, who aims to control the symbiotes. However, Jackal betrays Smythe and tries to take Spider-Man's symbiote for his own ends. After defeating Jackal, Spider-Man escapes from the Helicarrier as it crashes in the city. Making his way to the crash site, Spider-Man finds a symbiote-infected Jessica Drew (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn), whom he defeats, and the blueprints for the sonic generator. He is then informed by Nick Fury that the sonic generator is on the top of Fisk Tower, so he goes there to combine the parts he collected to a super-computer, completing the generator. However, it is stolen by the Jackal while Spider-Man is busy fighting A.I.M. agents dispatched by Smythe. Claiming that he had nothing to do with the generator's theft and that it's too late to stop the symbiotes, Smythe then unleashes a mind-controlled Black Cat to kill Spider-Man, who either frees her from Smythe's control, or lets the mind-controlling device kill her so that he can take it for himself.

Spider-Man finds the stolen generator in Central Park and confronts Jackal, who reveals that he has modified it to control the symbiotes. After defeating Jackal, Spider-Man recovers the generator and programs it to either destroy or control the symbiotes. As the generator is powered up, Spider-Man finds a symbiote-filled fountain containing seven serpent heads with Venom's consciousness. Using the generator to supply energy that weaken the heads, Spider-Man defeats Venom, allowing him to stop the invasion or take over Manhattan as the new symbiote leader.

Nintendo DS
The game begins with the symbiote invasion already in progress. After an encounter with several symbiotes, Spider-Man is infected by one, but is able to maintain control over it, leading to the re-creation of his black suit, which he can now remove at will. Afterwards, thinking Venom is responsible for the invasion, Spider-Man searches for him. Along the way he encounters Black Cat (Valerie Arem), who informs him that both Nightcrawler (Yuri Lowenthal) and the Green Goblin (Roger L. Jackson) require his assistance: the former is helping out with civilian evacuations, while the latter is setting up bombs to defeat the symbiotes.

After choosing to help either of them twice or both once, and defeating several "super-symbiotes", Spider-Man arrives at a symbiote hive, where he finds and defeats Venom. However, the villain claims that he is not behind the invasion, but rather is trying to stop it as well. With Venom now too weak to accompany him, Spider-Man ventures deeper into the hive by himself and encounters the Symbiote Leader. After defeating him, the hive begins to collapse, but Spider-Man is able to escape in time. The ending of the game depends on who the player helped earlier.

If they helped either Nightcrawler twice or both him and the Green Goblin once, Manhattan is saved and the citizens are freed from the symbiotes' control, praising Spider-Man, who thinks of taking a shower after having gone to the sewers twice in a day.
If they helped the Green Goblin twice, Spider-Man realizes that, with the symbiote leader gone, he is now in charge of the symbiotes. The infected citizens worship Spider-Man as their new leader while he swings through a New York City covered in symbiotes, reflecting upon how great power is simply a lot of power and that it is far better than sharing the responsibility.

Development
On April 17, 2008, Activision confirmed that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was in development, and that the game would be released on the Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, and Xbox 360 systems, and they confirmed that the story would center around an invasion on New York that Spider-Man and the other heroes and villains would have to deal with. Venom was confirmed as the main antagonist in June. Voice casting and direction was done by the husband and wife team of Keith and Valerie Arem.

Reception

Web of Shadows received generally average to positive reviews. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 79% and 77 out of 100 for the DS version; 54% and 52 out of 100 for the Microsoft Windows version; 69% and 69 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version; 70% and 67 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version; 77% for the PlayStation Portable version; 68% and 68 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version; and 65% and 63 out of 100 for the Wii version.

IGN criticized the story, and also pointed out that the lock-on camera has a tendency to detach itself, making mid-air battles difficult. 1UP.com praised the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game as having "plenty of cool "Spider-Man" moments throughout thanks to the basic locomotion and combat", which "settles into a rhythm of repetition", summing up with "Shadows might be the best Spider-Man game yet, but that's just a testament to the series' now-mediocre standards". GameSpot mentioned occasional technical issues with the graphics, sound, and camera, while praising the story, combat system, variety and "memorable" boss fights. GameSpy commented that "Web of Shadows manages to provide a good deal of fun even if it doesn't bring much new to the table", praising the animation and combat, and mentioning camera problems and visual glitches along with a repetition of objectives. Game Informer criticized the voice acting, camera, and animation, claiming, "as explosive as the new combat is, it's all this game has to offer". X-Play gave the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions three stars out of five and said, "there's enough great gameplay here to make Web of Shadows recommendable for Spider-Man fans. The sheer level of glitches in the game, however, manages to take the fun factor down several notches".

The DS version of the game, in contrast to the console versions, was relatively well-received, with reviewers praising level design similar to the Castlevania and Metroid franchises while criticizing the short length.

References

External links

2008 video games
3D platform games
Action-adventure games
Activision beat 'em ups
Games for Windows
Griptonite Games
Metroidvania games
Nintendo DS games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation 3 games
PlayStation Portable games
Wii games
Xbox 360 games
Windows games
Open-world video games
Treyarch games
Video games based on Spider-Man
Video games based on Venom (character)
Video games scored by Jamie Christopherson
Video games set in New York City
Aspyr games
Single-player video games
Video games developed in the United States
Amaze Entertainment games

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows


Wednesday Addams is a fictional character from the Addams Family multimedia franchise created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. She is typically portrayed as a morbid and emotionally reserved child that is fascinated by the macabre, often identified by her pale skin and black pigtails.

Wednesday has been portrayed by several actresses in various films and television series, including Lisa Loring in the television series The Addams Family (1964–1966) and in the television film Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977); Christina Ricci in the feature films The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993); Nicole Fugere in the direct-to-video film Addams Family Reunion (1998) and in the television series The New Addams Family (1998–1999); and Jenna Ortega in the streaming television series Wednesday (2022).

The Addams Family

Wednesday Addams


Mourad Didouche (, Kabyle: Diduc Muṛad; 1927–1955) was an Algerian revolutionary, and a political and military figure of the Algerian War of Independence.

Biography

Mourad Didouche, nicknamed si Abdelkader, was born on July 13, 1927, at El Mouradia in Algiers in a family originally from the village of Ibskriène, Aghribs in Kabylia. He did his primary and the junior school in El Mouradia then joined the technical High School of Algiers(Ruisseau).

Two years later, while working as a railway agent to the Algiers Central Station and militant of the CGT, he was appointed head of the neighborhoods of El Mouradia, El Madania and Bir Mourad Rais, creating in 1946 the troupe Scouts "al -Amal" and the sports team "al- Sarie Riadhi" of Algiers.

In 1947, he organized the municipal elections in his area and also traveled to western Algeria to organize the campaign for the Algerian Assembly. Arrested in a raid, he managed to escape from the court.

Since the creation in 1947 of the Special Organization (OS), he was one of the founding and most active members.

Following the descent of "Rehaim" on March 18, 1950, and the dismantling of a large part of the organization's network, resulting in the arrest of 130 people and the discovery of his responsibilities within the structure, and after the failure of the French administration to capture him, a judgment was entered against him in absentia and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. In 1952, with Ben Boulaïd he created the core of a clandestine movement in Algiers, whose mission was to make bombs in anticipation of the outbreak of the "National Revolution".

During the crisis of 1953-54 and the opposition of the Central Committee of the PPA- MTLD to Messali El Hajj, he went to France with the mission to control the Federation. Upon his return to Algiers, he created with eight companions, the revolutionary comity of Unity and action. He also participated in the meeting of "22" held in June 1954, during which it was decided the outbreak of the Revolution. Of this meeting emerged the first "Revolutionary Council" composed of six members Didouche Mourad, was appointed head of zone II ( Wilaya II). Yves Courrière nicknamed him the "Saint - Just of the Algerian revolution " 1.

He was one of the most prominent writers of the Declaration of 1 November 1954 and managed with the help of his assistant Zighoud Youcef to lay the groundwork for a political-military organization.

On January 18, 1955, when he was not yet 28 years old, Mourad Didouche died at the Battle of Douar Souadek,(Conde- Smendou) near Constantine. He was the first zone leader to fall.

The Didouche Mourad county, formerly Bizot, is named in his tribute. It is located on the National 3 between Constantine and commume of Zighoud Youcef. In his tribute as well; a major boulevard ("rue Michelet" formerly, that starts on the heights of Algiers (at the Bardo Museum) and ends at the Place Maurice Audin) in central Algiers is named after him.

1-source, yves courriere.
2-mustapha manane

See also
 Declaration of 1 November 1954

References

1927 births
1955 deaths
Algerian revolutionaries
People of the Algerian War

Mourad Didouche


Operation Maple was a series of World War II operations in Italy in support of the Anzio landings. It comprised operations by the British Special Air Service (2 SAS), starting on 7 January 1944. Operation "Thistledown" was successful but "Driftwood" failed and its objective had to be destroyed later by "Baobab". None of the members of the first two parties returned safely, either being captured or going missing.

Before Anzio landings, it was required to cut rail links north of Rome and elsewhere on the east coast.
Rail lines around Terni and Orvieto were to be attacked by four men of "Thistledown" but all the team was captured.
"Driftwood" consisted of two four man teams to cut the lines between Urbino and Fabriano and Ancona and Rimini: their fate is unknown but they are thought to have drowned or been captured and executed.
A reinforcement party ("Baobab") was landed by sea on 30 January and destroyed a bridge between Pesaro and Fano.

References

Conflicts in 1944
World War II British Commando raids
Special Air Service
1944 in Italy

Operation Maple (Italy)


Lothar II (874-929), Count of Stade, son of Lothar I, Count of Stade, and Oda of Saxony, daughter of Liudolf, Duke of Saxony.  Lothar was the great-grandfather of Thietmar of Merseburg, and is frequently confused in genealogical sources with Thietmar's other great-grandfather of the same name who was Count of Walbeck.

Lothar died fighting the Slavs in the Battle of Lenzen, as did Lothar I, Count of Walbeck.  Thietmar describes his great-grandfathers (called Liuthar in his Chronicon), as "distinguished men, the best of warriors, of illustrious lineage, and the honour and solace of the homeland."

Lothar married Swanhild of Saxony and had four children:
 Henry I the Bald, Count of Stade
 Gerburg von Stade
 Siegfried I, Count of Stade

Upon his death, Lothar was succeeded as Count of Stade by Wichmann I the Elder.

References

Sources

Warner, David A., Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2001

Leyser, Karl, Medieval Germany and Its Neighbours 900-1250, The Hambledon Press, London, 1982

Bury, J. B. (editor), The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III, Germany and the Western Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1922
874 births
929 deaths
Counts of Stade
German military personnel killed in action
Saxon warriors
9th-century Saxon people
10th-century Saxon people
9th-century counts in Europe

Lothar II, Count of Stade


Paulina Singer (born September 5, 1991) is an American actress, known for her roles as Grace Bledsoe on We TV's horror drama series South of Hell and Jessie Tyler on Freeform's teen drama series Dead of Summer.

Early life
Singer was born and raised in Exeter, New Hampshire. Her father is African American and her mother is of Ukrainian descent. She studied for a year at Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts in New York City before dropping out to pursue an acting career. At 19, Singer joined the Upright Citizens Brigade to study improvisational theatre.

Career
In 2014, Singer was cast in musician Russ's music video for the song Gypsy. In 2015, Singer was cast in a main role in the We TV horror drama series South of Hell, executive produced by Eli Roth and Jason Blum. She portrayed Grace Bledsoe, alongside Mena Suvari and Bill Irwin. The following year, she joined the regular cast of Freeform's teen drama-thriller series Dead of Summer, portraying summer camp counselor Jessie Tyler. In 2017, she portrayed the lead role of Kelley Winters in the Lifetime television film High School Lover, alongside James Franco, Lana Condor, and Julia Jones. In 2018, she starred in Stella's Last Weekend, alongside Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

1991 births
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from New Hampshire
African-American actresses
American film actresses
American television actresses
American people of Ukrainian descent
Eugene Lang College alumni
Living people
People from Exeter, New Hampshire
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American people

Paulina Singer


Konstantin Leopold Ludwig Adalbert Georg Thadeus Josef Petrus Johannes Antonius Franz von Assisi Assumption et omnes sancti Prinz von Bayern (15 August 1920 – 30 July 1969) was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach, journalist, author and a German politician.

Early life
Konstantin was born in Munich, Bavaria. He was the eldest son of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria and his wife Countess Auguste von Seefried auf Buttenheim.

In 1939, as most young German men of his age, the Prince was drafted to the military. However, his career in the German Army was short lived. In 1941, Prince Konstantin was relieved from all combat duties as a result of the so called Prinzenerlass and a year later started studying law at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg im Breisgau. After his graduation in 1944, he worked at the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe, but was arrested, as were most of his relatives,  after the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and remained imprisoned for the rest of World War II.

Post World War II
After the war, Prince Konstantin began working as a journalist at the Neue Revue magazine, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and later on for the popular German magazine Bunte. In addition, in 1958 he published a biography of Pope Pius XII entitled Der Papst and three years later a historical reference book Ohne Macht und Herrlichkeit. He also became a member of the Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern, one of the biggest political parties in Bavaria and was elected to the Bavarian state parliament in 1962 and in 1965 to the Bundestag.

Marriage

On 26 August 1942 Prince Konstantin married Princess Maria Adelgunde of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the daughter of Prince Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Princess Margarete Karola of Saxony. The wedding in Sigmaringen has been described as "the biggest society event during the war" (i.e. World War II). According to a contemporary, "a score of photographers and newsreel cameramen" were present at the procession from the castle.

The couple had two sons, but the marriage ended in divorce on 14 July 1948 and was annulled on 24 March 1950.

Prince Leopold Rupprecht Ludwig Ferdinand Adalbert Friedrich Maria et omnes sancti of Bavaria (21 June 1943) he married Ursula Mohlenkamp on 21 October 1977. They have four children and six grandchildren.
Prince Adalbert Friedrich Johannes Maria et omnes sancti of Bavaria (27 December 1944) he married Marion Malkowski on 9 May 1978 and they were divorced on 11 November 1983. He remarried Sandra Burghardt on 21 February 1986. They have two children.

On 14 August 1953 Prince Konstantin married again, Countess Helene (Hella) von Khevenhüller-Metsch, the daughter of Count Franz von Khevenhüller-Metsch and Princess Anna von Fürstenberg. The civil ceremony took place at Sankt Georgen am Längsee in Carinthia and the religious wedding followed a day later at Hohenosterwitz. The couple had a daughter together.

Princess Ysabel Helene Anna Augusta Maria de la Paz Ludovica-Fernanda et omnes sancti of Bavaria (20 July 1954) she married Count Alfred Hoyos on 30 May 1976. They have two children and six grandchildren:
Countess Stephanie Hoyos (1977) she married Baron Franz von Brackel on 15 April 2006. They have three children:
Baron Constantin von Brackel (2006)
Baroness Antonia von Brackel (2008)
Baroness Johanna von Brackel (2010)
Count Johannes Hoyos (1978) he married Veronika Wundsam in 2013. They have three sons:
Count Balthasar Hoyos (2015)
Count Ludwig Hoyos (2017-2017)
Count Antonius Hoyos (2018)

Countess Helene was remarried to Prince Eugen of Bavaria on 27 November 1970.

Death
Prince Konstantin of Bavaria lost his life on  30 July 1969 in a plane crash near Hechingen, Baden-Württemberg and is buried at the Andechs Abbey cemetery in Bavaria.

Ancestry

Published works
 Nach der Sintflut. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - Bergisch Gladbach : Lübbe, 1988
 Nach der Sintflut. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - München : Süddeutscher Verlag, 1986
 Papst Pius XII. [der Zwölfte], Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern  - Stein am Rhein : Christiana-Verlag, 1980, 38. - 42. Tsd.
 Des Königs schönste Damen. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern  - München : Süddeutscher Verlag, 1980
 Prinz und Demokrat. Konstantin von Bayern. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - München : Langen/Müller, 1970
 Die Zukunft sichern. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - Stuttgart-Degerloch : Seewald, 1969
 Ohne Macht und Herrlichkeit. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - München : List, 1961
 Der Papst. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - [Gütersloh] : Bertelsmann Lesering, 1959
 Der Papst. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - München : Kindler, 1958, 27. - 29. Tsd.
 Der Papst. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern - Frankfurt/M. : Ullstein Taschenbücher-Verl., 1958

References
 Die Wittelsbacher. Geschichte unserer Familie. Adalbert, Prinz von Bayern. Prestel Verlag, München, 1979
 Prinz und Demokrat. Konstantin von Bayern: Ein Gedenkbuch. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern and Arens, Hanns. München; Wien : Langen/Müller, 1970

Princes of Bavaria
House of Wittelsbach
1920 births
1969 deaths
German Army personnel of World War II
German Roman Catholics
Burials at Andechs Abbey

Konstantin Prinz von Bayern


Erfurt is the capital city of the German state of Thuringia. It has an area of . In December 2015 it had a population of 210,000 people. The River Gera runs through the city.

History
People have lived in the area for about 100,000 years. The city was first mentioned in writing in 742, in a letter to the Pope from St Boniface. St Boniface established Christianity in the area. He set up a church in Erfurt in 742. Erfurt Cathedral was later built on the same site.

The city is in the centre of Germany. It was on the Via Regia, a medieval trade road network that stretched across Europe. It became an important trading centre in the Middle Ages. Erfurt was a member of the Hanseatic League, an alliance of trade associations and market towns. It was also famous for producing woad. Blue indigo dye is made from the woad plant.

Erfurt is on the Way of St. James pilgrams' path (Spanish: Camino de Santigo; German: Jakobsweg). In the Middle Ages a number of monasteries were set up in the city. Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, lived at St. Augustine's Monastery from 1505 until 1511. A famous philosopher and theologian called Meister Eckhart lived at the Dominican Monastery from about 1275 until 1311.

The city was part of the Holy Roman Empire. It became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802. From 1949 until 1990 Erfurt was in the communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Seventeen people were killed in a mass shooting in 2002.

Industry
Modern day Erfurt is a transport hub for high speed trains and other German and European transport networks. This makes logistics one of its main industries. Other important industries are agriculture, horticulture and microelectronics.

The German Federal Labour Court (German:Bundesarbeitsgericht) is in Erfurt.

Education
The University of Erfurt was first set up in 1379. It closed in 1816, but was reopened in 1994. Martin Luther studied there from 1501 to 1505. It is also thought that Johannes Gutenberg, who developed the printing press, enrolled there in 1418. Erfurt also has a Fachhochschule, a University of Applied Sciences.

Tourist attractions
Many visitors come to see the historic medieval town centre. One of the main tourist attractions is the Krämerbrücke (the Merchants' Bridge). The bridge was built in its current form in 1472. It has buildings with shops and houses on it. People still live on it.

The city is well known for its festivals throughout the year. Two million people visit the Christmas markets each year.

Other important sites in the city include:
 St. Augustine's Monastery, where Martin Luther lived from 1505 to 1511. It has been nominated as a World Heritage Site.
 The Old Synagogue, which dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries. It is one of the oldest synagogues in Europe and it has been nominated as a World Heritage Site.
 Erfurt Cathedral and the Severikirche (St. Severus Church), which overlook Domplatz, the Cathedral square.
 Petersberg Citadel, a 16th-century fortress on a hill overlooking the town centre. It is one of the largest and best preserved town fortresses in Europe.

Gallery

References

Other websites

 Erfurt City official website

Urban Districts of Thuringia

Erfurt