Addressing both the debate over the “modern” nature of the German and Italian fascist regimes, and the related question of the role played by the Christian churches in making the Holocaust possible, we examine the most prominent antisemitic publications aimed at the broad public in each country: Der Stürmer in Germany and La Difesa della razza in Italy. Our study traces the heavy use of the ritual murder charge in both publications, and demonstrates the direct influence of the Nazi antisemitic campaign on the subsequent Italian one. Differences between the two publications in their use of the ritual murder charge are linked to differences between the two regimes in their relations to Christianity and the Christian churches.

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AbstractThe role played by Christianity and Christian churches in the demonization of the Jews by the German National Socialist and Italian Fascist regimes remains a subject of intense controversy. The historiography at the base of this debate has been largely rooted in research on either Germany or Italy, yet comparative empirical study is particularly well-suited to allow broader generalizations. Such work is especially valuable given the very different relationships the two regimes maintained with the churches. This article identifies similarities and differences in the Nazi and Italian Fascist uses of Christianity in their efforts to turn their populations against the Jews through examination of two of their most influential popular anti-Semitic propaganda vehicles: La difesa della razza in Italy and Der Stürmer in Germany. Both mixed pseudoscientific racial theories with arguments based on Christian religious authority, and both presented themselves as defenders of Christianity against the Jewish threat. Yet while the Italian publication, reflecting the Fascist regime's close relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, took care to present itself as in harmony with the Church, the German publication adopted a much more critical attitude toward contemporary German churches and churchmen, casting them as having strayed from the true teachings of Jesus.