Vite sospese: gli ebrei deportati dalla Libia nei campi di concentramento toscani 1942-1944

This article focuses on the experience of internment, deportation and survival of a group of Jews of British nationality forcebly moved from Libya to Italy in 1942, in particular to the concentration camps of Bagno a Ripoli (Florence) and Civitella della Chiana (Arezzo) in Tuscany. The paper is based on the analysis of institutional documents from the Central State Archives in Rome and the State Archives of Florence, and oral testimonies from Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea, Yad Vashem and USC Shoah Foundation. This set of sources allowed to portray the complex picture of the Anglo-Libyan Jews’ unexpected departure from Libya, the separation of their families, their difficult adjustment to life in qthe concentration camps, their relationship with other internees and the local population, and their deportation to Bergen Belsen. This research draws on the broader historiographical debate in the field of Holocaust Studies, which recently dedicated particular attention to the history of the Jews in North Africa during the Second World War. The results shed light on the micro-history of the Anglo-Libyan Jews’ brutal uprooting, which became even more acute in post-war Libya, at that time struggling between decolonization and the turbulent path towards national independence.