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Cirenaica-Tripolitania-Libia 1911 (11 ottobre) - 1939 (31 agosto) CercaDefinizione
Italy gained control of the North African country later known as Libya after fall of Tripoli on October 11, 1911,and then was officially ceded the provinces of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania by the Ottoman Empire in October 1912. Cyrenaica (main city Benghazi) and Tripolitania (main city Tripoli) were administered separately and the Italians did not achieve full control until 1931. Along with the Fezzan region, the colonies were united in 1934 and renamed Libya. During the first twenty-five years of Italian administration, Libyan Jews attained equal rights, government positions, and education. Although Fascist Italy had allied itself with Nazi Germany by the end of the 1930s, local Libyan authorities did not enforce all anti-Jewish laws. A local law, the Sabbath Decree, was enacted in 1935 compelling Jewish shopkeepers to keep stores open on Saturday but was revoked in 1937 after a visit by Mussolini who promised to respect Jewish traditions. The governor of the colony, Marshal Balboa, attempted to lessen the impact of the 1938 racial laws and blocked the local Fascists from aggressive actions against the Jews. However, Jews were dismissed from civil service jobs and schools and relations with the Muslim population worsened. Before the outbreak of the war, the local Jewish population was approximately 30,000, with most residing in Tripoli and Benghazi. (en-US)
Fonte
Abitbol, Michel. The Jews of North Africa during the Second World War. Trans. Catherine Tihanyi Zentelis. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989. p. 38