Cory Holt

On November 14, 1943, the Jews of Italy were declared enemy aliens by their government. On this date, Fascist party officials gathered at Verona to approve the Carta di Verona. Article VII of this, the political manifesto of the new Italian Social Republic, declared that "All those belonging to the Jewish race are foreigners. During this war they belong to an enemy nationality."
During the evening of November 30, 1943, police order number five was broadcast over the radio. On December 1, Minister of the Interior, Guido Buffarini Guidi sent this order to his prefects, who, in turn, passed it along to their police chiefs. The order declared that all Jews presently residing in Italy, even if they had been granted certain exemptions under earlier racial laws, were to be arrested and interned in concentration camps within Italy. Their property and possessions were to be confiscated. Teams of Jew hunters were sent to Italy. They were assisted by thousands of Fascists eager to help.
Meanwhile, the military and police units of the Republic of Salo acted with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The police were perhaps the least zealous. Occasionally, a fanatical "questore" (police chief) or "capo di provincia" (provincial prefect) demanded increased action from a police department. But most often, the police either gave low priority to the arrest of Jews or completely ignored the policy. A chronology of arrests suggests that Italian police were slow to react to the order, and may have even deliberately balked.
While most arrests of Jews before December can be attributed to Nazis and other like-minded groups, many afterwards were performed by the dangerous Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana (GNR), or National Republican Guard.
Even more threatening to the Jews were the Brigate Nere (Black Brigade). Although not created until June, 1944, the members of the Brigade, with little military discipline, became a source of terror, robbing, raping, and murdering civilians at will. They were merciless toward Jews.
The final Italian force to be feared was the Italian SS, which would number twenty thousand men during the occupation. They swore allegiance to Hitler, and were regarded as traitors.
Gianni Farnese, meanwhile, never regarded himself as a savior. He had never asked to provide sanctuary to a fleeing family. He had never thought himself an important person.
But something happened to Gianni during the first couple of months following the roundup. Life for him and the Levis had become quite regimented. At some time – Gianni never knew precisely when – he experienced a renewal in his faith. He had never truly lost his faith, but the deteriorating conditions which had plagued Europe during the last several years had taxed his faith in humanity, indeed, even in his religion. As accounts of terror flowed from sources across the continent, Gianni, like perhaps many Christians, began to ask the perplexing question "Where is God?"
Perhaps because he had been able to overcome these difficult circumstances, or perhaps because of the massive underground network established in Rome to provide for those in need, Gianni experienced his renewal. Surely, Gianni concluded, in every city across Italy, and perhaps in all of Europe, there must be networks established on behalf of those who had been forced into hiding.
That there were so many individuals working toward this common cause, and risking their lives in the process, could only be the result of the hand of God. That they were quite successful when the city was so infiltrated by Nazis and their allies was an even further testament to God's presence. For many years, Gianni had resigned himself to the assumption that evil forces were winning over the righteous, but now he realized the righteous and their cause were succeeding. Yes, Gianni now realized, the good were winning.
These realizations gradually led Gianni to conclude he was not a savior. He never had been. He was simply a medium, carrying out the work of his Lord. And through this work, Gianni had become a servant to his Lord, to the Levis, and to all of humanity. Indeed, Gianni was no savior. For through his efforts alone, he would have saved no one, perhaps not even himself. But through the work of many thousands of servants and their camaraderie, the outcome designed of the one, true Savior was inevitable. After this revelation, Gianni realized he would not fail. As a savior, the burden was his. But now, as a servant, he no longer bore a burden, for the burden had never been his. It had always been the Lord's. Although Gianni continued to experience moments of tension and anxiety, the fear he had once felt was gone.
Ironically, as the war against the Jews escalated, and as those who waged this war became more numerous, the greater Gianni's faith grew, and the more determined became his efforts. For Gianni now knew through personal experience and testimony that he could indeed do all things through God who strengthened him.