Istituto Italiano di Antropologia

The "Manifesto della Razza" 1938

Published in “Il Giornale d’Italia” with the title “Il Fascismo e il problema della razza” (July 14, 1938) and republished in “La Difesa della Razza” (August 5, 1938).

1. HUMAN RACES EXIST.

In fact, the existence of human races is not a simple spiritual concept, but rather a real material phenomenon that can be perceived through our senses. This reality is evident in the masses, an imposing number of millions of men who are similar in their physical and psychological characteristics, which were inherited and which continue to be inherited. Stating that human races exist does not necessarily mean that there are superior and inferior races, but only that there are different human races.

2. LARGE RACES AND SMALL RACES EXIST.

It is not enough to admit there exist major groups that are commonly called races and which are differentiated only by a few characteristics. In fact, one must also recognise that there exist minor groups (for example, the Nordics, the Mediterraneans, the Dinarics, etc.) differentiated by a large number of common characteristics. From a biological point of view, these groups constitute the true races, the existence of which cannot be contested.

3. THE CONCEPT OF RACE IS PURELY BIOLOGICAL.

It is therefore based on considerations other than those of people and nation, which are founded essentially on historical, linguistic and religious considerations. However, racial differences are the roots that determine the differences between peoples and nations. The fact that Italians are different from the French, the Germans, the Turks, the Greeks, etc. is not only due to their different language and history, but also because of the varying racial compositions of these peoples.. There have been diverse proportions of different races which, since very ancient times, have constituted the various peoples. Either one race has dominated another, or all have harmoniously merged together. Alternatively, there are still populations that have not mixed with the other races.

4. THE POPULATION OF ITALY TODAY IS PRINCIPALLY OF ARYAN ORIGIN AND ITS CIVILIZATION IS ARYAN.

This Aryan population has lived in Italy for several thousand years and little remains of the civilization predating the Aryan people. The origin of the Italian population today stems essentially from the elements of those same races that constitute and will constitute the permanent living fabric of Europe.

5. IT IS A MYTH THAT THERE HAS BEEN AN INFLUX OF ENORMOUS MASSES OF PEOPLE IN HISTORICAL TIMES.

Since the invasion of the Lombards, in Italy, there have been no other important movements of people capable of influencing the racial physiognomy of the nation. This means that, while for other European nations racial compositions have varied considerably even in modern times, for Italy the racial composition of today is basically the same as it was 1,000 years ago: almost all the 44 million Italians of today come therefore from families that have been living in Italy for at least a millenium.

6. TODAY, THERE EXISTS A PURE ‘ITALIAN RACE’.

This declaration is not based on the confusion of the biological concept of race with the historic and linguistic concept of people and nation, but rather on the pure blood relationship that unites the Italians of today to the generations that for thousands of years have inhabited Italy. This ancient pure kinship is the greatest representation of the nobility of the Italian nation.

7. IT IS TIME FOR THE ITALIANS TO PROCLAIM OPENLY THAT THEY ARE RACISTS.

Everything that the [Fascist] regime has done so far in Italy is founded on racist principles. The leader [Mussolini] has frequently referred to racial concepts. The question of racism in Italy must be treated from a purely biological point of view, and free of philosophical and religious intentions. The concept of Italian racism must be based on Italian ideas and be Aryan-Nordic in orientation. This does not mean to say, however, that German racial theories in their current form should be introduced into Italy or that Italians and Scandinavians should be considered the same. It simply means that Italians have physical and above all psychological characteristics of a purely European nature that are totally different from any non-European race. This means elevating Italian to an ideal of superior consciousness and greater responsibility.

8. IT IS IMPORTANT TO MAKE A CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE MEDITERRANEAN PEOPLES OF EUROPE ON THE WESTERN SIDE, AND THE ORIENTALS AND AFRICANS ON THE EASTERN SIDE.

It is therefore dangerous to support theories that claim that some European peoples are of African origin and that within the Mediterranean race there are Semitic and Hamitic elements, which would establish absolutely inadmissible relations and ideological sympathies.

9. THE JEWS DO NOT BELONG TO THE ITALIAN RACE.

In general, nothing remains of the Semites that landed through the centuries on the sacred soil of our Fatherland. The same applies for the Arab occupation of Sicily of which all that rests is the memory of a few names. Furthermore, the process of assimilation was always very rapid in Italy. The Jews represent the only population that has never been assimilated in Italy because they are composed of non-European.

10. THE PURE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE MUST NOT BE ALTERED IN ANY WAY.

Union is admissible only among European races, which is not to be considered real hybridization, given that these races belong to a common stock and are differentiated only by a few characteristics, being otherwise the same in most instances. The purely European character of Italians would be altered by racial mixing with any extra-European race which would produce a civilization that was different from the ancient Aryan civilization.

Signatories

Lino Businco, professor of general pathology, University of Rome
Lidio Cipriani, professor of anthropology, University of Florence
Arturo Donaggio, professor of neuropsychiatry, University of Bologna, and president of the Italian Psychiatric Society
Leone Franzi, professor of pediatrics, University of Milan
Guido Landra, professor of anthropology, University of Rome
Nicola Pende1, professor of endocrinology, University of Rome and director of the Institute of Special Medical Pathology
Marcello Ricci, professor of zoology, University of Rome
Franco Savorgnan, professor of demography, University of Rome and president of the Central Institute of Statistics
Sabato Visco, professor of physiology, University of Rome and director of the National Institute of Biology at the National Research Council
Edoardo Zavattari, director of the Institute of Zoology at the University of Rome.

* contested attribution