Situation in Ferrara and relations with Italo Balbo

In Ferrara squadrismo, supported by the large landowners who wanted to contain socialist worker and union demands, resulted in various episodes of violence,^[7] such as the Minzoni murder. After the first violent years Italo Balbo sought trusted personalities through whom he could change his public image; these included Ravenna, the journalist Nello Quilici and Umberto Klinger, for several years the city's federal secretary. The link between Fascism and the local bourgeoisie was strengthened, even with the Jewish component, and later, to this end, cultural aspects inspired by Ferrara's Este history were enhanced. On the cultural pages of the Corriere Padano, directed by Quilici, wrote Ferrara personalities who later distanced themselves from Fascism; among them were Giorgio Bassani, Michelangelo Antonioni and Lanfranco Caretti. Bassani later, around 1941, joined an antifascist group and was imprisoned.^[8]

Fascist Ravenna

Ravenna initially approached Fascism by being attracted to nationalist and irredentist ideas,^{[note 1]} as was also the case for various members of the Jewish bourgeoisie,^{[note 2]} and his long-standing friendship and esteem for Balbo, despite the obvious difference between the two, was very influential at this stage.^[9] With Balbo and Panunzio he founded a revolutionary action group in the city,^[10] and became part, in 1922,^[11] of a small circle of the party official's close associates, was a candidate in the local administrative elections at the end of that same year, in a climate of strong political contrast and violence,^[12] and became an alderman. In the meantime, he continued to practice his profession as a lawyer, although he devoted less and less time to it.^[13] In 1923 his assessorship was directly involved in the early stages of urban planning intervention in the city, particularly with the restoration of the Castello Estense and the Palazzo del Comune. On that occasion he contributed to the decision to rebuild the tower that fell in 1570 at the beginning of the earthquake swarm that struck the city until 1574,^[14] also participating with a donation.^{[note 3]}

Later, his extraneousness to the acts of squadrismo that marked the rise of Fascism in Ferrara,^{[15][note 4]} his secular position and the professional esteem he enjoyed prompted Balbo to propose him as the leader of Fascism in Ferrara, with a formal invitation to join the National Fascist Party (PNF), in 1924.^{[16][note 5]} Ravenna then began heading the PNF's Ferrarese Federal Secretariat and then followed Balbo to Rome, when the latter was appointed undersecretary of the National Economy. This experience, however, was short-lived, partly for personal reasons. Toward the end of 1926, when the Fascist laws came into effect, he was appointed extraordinary commissioner to head the Municipality of Ferrara. These provisions, in particular Law No. 237/1926, replaced with government-appointed authority all municipal and provincial administrations that had hitherto been elective.

City administrator

Renzo Ravenna was appointed Podestà of Ferrara on December 16, 1926, by royal decree and received a telegram of congratulatory good wishes from his friend Italo Balbo,^[17] who had personally committed himself to this result. He thus began his activity as the city's first administrator and, in that role, demonstrated that he possessed, in addition to personal honesty, the skills required by the important function,^[18] in full compliance with Fascist directives.^{[note 6][note 7]}

Beginning of activity as podestà

One of his first and significant political acts was to confirm in their roles several valuable technicians from the previous administration, even though they were known anti-fascists; in particular, among others, Girolamo Savonuzzi and Arturo Torboli, who were later killed in 1943, as later reported.^[19] The problems he immediately faced mainly concerned the situation of the municipality's finances, widespread unemployment and the destitution of many of his fellow citizens. He received numerous requests for aid throughout his tenure, to which he always responded.

Not infrequently then, he intervened not only as an administrator but also personally contributed economically in favor of some in need.^{[note 8]} He also established soup kitchens, active especially in the winter period, which remained in operation until his resignation. His commitment to the city's administration reduced the time he devoted to his professional practice, which nevertheless continued its activity, thanks in part to his collaborators.^[20]

Being Jewish

Starting in the second half of the 1930s, the situation in Ferrara (and throughout Italy) began to become increasingly difficult for Jewish communities. The permanence of Ravenna himself, as a Jew, in the function of podestà began to be questioned. On several occasions solicitations came from the government, addressed to Prefect Amerigo Festa, beginning in 1934, demanding his resignation (sometimes based on anonymous anti-Semitic accusations). The high official, a friend of Ravenna, after the necessary investigations entrusted to the forces of law and order, sent reassurances to Rome about the correctness and consideration the podestà enjoyed in the city, recalling the esteem in which he was held by Italo Balbo as well. Later then came indications from Rome to suspend all measures.^[36][37]

Toward the end of 1935, when his second term was about to expire, in spite of new ministerial attempts to deprive him of office on account of his religion, the support of Prefect Festa and the distant protection of Balbo caused the post to be renewed, and thus came the Roman reappointment.^[38] No direct intervention by Mussolini was proven in the affair, although the rivalry that pitted the head of the government and the party official originally from Ferrara, at that time governor in Libya, was well known. Today, therefore, it remains only a hypothesis that in the attack on Ravenna in those years was actually hidden a challenge to Balbo's power.^[39] At the same time as these events, in the province of Ferrara, many officials, professionals and teachers of the Jewish faith began to be exonerated from the public roles they held.^{[40][note 11]}

Anti-Semitic writings appeared on the walls (which were initially erased) and gradually the climate changed as preparations were made for the promulgation of the racial laws. Italo Balbo's protection extended until the beginning of 1938, but when it became clear that it was no longer possible to oppose the national directives, Ravenna himself preferred to avoid being dismissed on authority, anticipating the timing only by a few months and becoming one of the first illustrious victims of the regime's new direction.^[41] Prefect Festa, meanwhile, demonstrating that the political climate had changed, had already been promoted and removed, with assignment to another post, in Rome.

Proximity of Italo Balbo

On March 17, 1938, Renzo Ravenna resigned as podestà,^[42][43] and his lifelong friend Italo Balbo did not want to miss the ceremony. The Corriere di Ferrara devoted two issues to the event. On one, on the front page, it titled: "After twelve years of fruitful activity, lawyer Renzo Ravenna leaves the Podestà office"; while on the other: "In the presence of LL.EE. Balbo and Rossoni H.E. the Prefect installs as the new Podestà of Ferrara the Hon. Alberto Verdi to replace the lawyer Renzo Ravenna."^[44] In the days immediately following, his wife Lucia recounted, Balbo inquired from his friend whether, during his years at the head of the city, he had in any way taken advantage of his position to increase his personal finances. Hearing Renzo's negative answer, he apparently replied to him, affectionately, "What a fool!"^[45]

The resignation, officially submitted for health reasons (he had in fact suffered a heart attack, from which he had recovered), was followed by a serious and important decision. Ravenna, increasingly at odds with a government in which he had believed, and disappointed with the PNF, of which he had been an enthusiastic supporter, embittered moreover by the increasingly obvious anti-Semitic attacks and therefore humanly tried, returned, in July 1938, his party card and badge.^[46]

Social isolation and resumption of law practice

He began at that time a slow but gradual estrangement, at least on the public level, of all the people who had also been so close to him when he exercised the functions of podestà. Quilici, for example, and Archbishop Bovelli, while continuing, privately, to send him good wishes and signs of closeness, maintained a public position of full agreement with the racial laws. Only Balbo, until the time of his death, always manifested friendship and closeness. Among other things, he hosted him in Libya, where he was governor, and where he very laxly applied the laws in defense of race.^[47][48] The increasingly stringent regulations excluded Ravenna and all Jews even from the main gathering places in Ferrara, and when it came to clubs, members of the Jewish faith were simply considered to have resigned.^[49]

Quilici published, in September 1938, an article that certainly grieved Ravenna greatly,^[50] although formally still the personal relationship between the two remained marked by courtesy and apparently did not crack. Another painful moment, which touched him deeply, was the government-imposed dismissal from the army, with a discharge of all officers of the Jewish race, which became effective on January 1, 1939.^[51] Ravenna was forced to hand back his army badge, railroad card and passbook.^[52] Despite this, in June 1940, after Italy's entry into the war, he wrote to the Prefect of Ferrara asking to still be able to serve his country, proving that he was still loyal to the Fatherland, even if outside the Fascist Party.^[53]

Importantly, in the same days Silvio Magrini, president of the Ferrarese Israelite community, also wrote a letter to the city authorities confirming (despite the racial discrimination he concealed in the letter), the patriotism and loyalty of all Ferrarese Jews,^[54][55] in an obvious attempt to defend the position of the Jewish community from accusations of lack of closeness to the country. Professionally and economically, his early days without public office brought him several benefits. As mayor he had neglected his practice, and had not infrequently intervened with his own means to help those in need, while now he could resume full-time care of those who came to him, so his finances improved considerably. His practice was frequented by the wealthy Jewish bourgeoisie who were either attempting to defend their property, renouncing civil and political rights, or who wanted to take the difficult path of Aryanization, in cases of mixed marriages.^[56]

Balbo's death and final detachment from fascism

Italo Balbo's death on June 28, 1940, profoundly affected the subsequent affairs of Ravenna and his family. First of all a very important friend, to whom he was very close, was lost. Then fell the protection that the powerful party official had always extended over him, and, finally, the last link with Fascism was also lost. It had also been admiration for Balbo that had made Renzo Ravenna embrace the Fascist faith in his younger years.^[57] To the grief for the loss of his friend was then added, in those days, even that of not being able to take part in the funeral rite held in the city in his memory.^[58] Despite the fact that the law firm continued its activities, the situation meanwhile worsened. Social isolation and racial provisions imposed new renunciations, which Ravenna accepted with dignity, without asking for aid, either for himself or for family members and relatives. The fall of Mussolini in July 1943 gave hope for a favorable change, which, however, was soon proved disappointing in fact. Everything precipitated when the armistice of September 8 arrived, the Italian Social Republic was created and German troops also occupied Ferrara. In October there were the first arrests of both people believed to be anti-fascists and some Jews, including Rabbi Leone Leoni.^[59][60]

The large Ravenna family began to think about escape, while a nephew of Renzo's was already being arrested. One sister had been living in Rome for some time and another joined her, with her family. Events then precipitated; there was a roundup in the capital and sister Alba was arrested, locked in a sealed cattle car and sent toward the Auschwitz concentration camp. The convoy made a very brief stop in Ferrara and she fortunately managed, by speaking to a railroad man from inside the wagon, to get her brother to warn her to flee. Ravenna, reached by the message, prepared to travel to Switzerland, refusing Archbishop Bovelli's offer to find him safety in the Vatican but accepting financial help from his friend Balbo's widow for the costly expatriation to Swiss soil.^[61] Rosetta Loy partly recounts the story of Alba Levi Ravenna, Renzo's sister, in her First Words. Of the former mayor's entire large family deported to Auschwitz, only his nephew Eugenio (Gegio), the first to be arrested, survived and managed to return to Italy.^[62]