Germans, Italians, and Jews : the police forces of occupied Italy, 1943–1945

From September 9, 1943, until May 2, 1945, just over 8,000 out of about 47,000 Jews in Italy (including foreigners) were deported or killed. In Rome, for instance, approximately 750 Jews were arrested in the seven and a half months that followed the initial raid of October 16, 1943; this number shows that the SIPO and SD (Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst) worked quite efficiently in the former capital of the kingdom, despite very limited manpower. This essay sets out to describe the methods used to persecute the Jews, examining how the persecutors achieved such tragically successful results.