Orano's diatribe (first published in 1937) provided the intellectual premise for the racial laws directed by Mussolini's government against its Jewish subjects in the course of 1938. This subtle, nuanced, but devastating attack on Italy's forty thousand Jews for their alleged Zionist sympathies, championing of "degenerate" avant-garde cultural expressions, and doubtful loyalty to the Fascist regime and its imperial claims, was an ominous prelude to the impending storm. Prompt responses to Orano's work by prominent Jewish figures were to no avail.

On loan from a private collection.