April 25, the role of the Jewish Brigade in the Italian Resistance

The Brigade carried out a training period in Alexandria, Egypt and later also in Italy, in Taranto and Fiuggi. Overall he served for 54 days. In the end, there were 51 dead. Much more were injured. It had a primarily diversionary function, to disturb and engage the enemy. In Italy the contribution of volunteers is considered precious above all from a humanitarian point of view: they helped Jewish refugees and concentration camp survivors

The Jewish Brigade, a corps of young Jewish volunteers from Palestine still under British mandate, also played an important role in the Italian Resistance. It was formed in September 1944, when the extent of the Shoah began to be understood. It deployed on the Gothic Line in Romagna together with the Allies and Italian partisans and later disbanded in 1946 (25 APRIL, LIVE UPDATES).

The stages

The Brigade carried out a training period in Alexandria, Egypt and later also in Italy, in Taranto and Fiuggi. He arrived alongside the Scottish troops in the province of Ravenna on 26 February 1945. On the 28th of the same month, we read on the website brigataebraica.it, the group entered Rimini and a few days later Forlì, where the first firefights with the Wermacht occurred. Other clashes then took place in Faenza until the breakthrough of the Gothic Line on the Senio river front. The last conflict with the Germans occurred on April 14. In two months of fighting 51 volunteers died and many others were injured. The Jewish Brigade operated on the Italian front from 3 March to 25 April 1945: a total of 54 days of fighting. The bodies today are found in Allied military cemeteries, especially in Piangipane and in the other cemeteries in the province of Ravenna, but also in Milan, Ancona, Salerno, Udine, Padua, Caserta and Bologna.

The function of the Brigade

The Jewish Brigade had a primarily diversionary function, disturbing and engaging the enemy. According to the Israeli historian Yigal Allon, the volunteers were trained to face war “on a large scale”, but in fact they were engaged in a static sector of the front. In Italy the role of Jewish volunteers from Palestine is considered precious above all from a humanitarian point of view, given that they were very involved in supporting and assisting Jewish refugees and the numerous orphans hosted in collection centers and refugee camps throughout the peninsula.

At the end of the war

At the end of the war, the volunteers of the Jewish Brigade worked to help Jewish survivors find their loved ones. In Milan, Palestinian Jews activated a Jewish center at Palazzo Erba Odescalchi, in via Unione 5, and reopened the Jewish school in via Eupili 8. In those years, the center in via Unione became a meeting point for Jewish refugees from all over Europe. In ’45 the Jewish Brigade was moved to Treviso. Here there were the first contacts with the survivors of the extermination camps, who were offered help to reach Palestine. The British authorities later moved the Jewish Brigade to northern Europe (Holland and Belgium).