Deportation of Italian Jews to Auschwitz begins

For much of the war period, Italian Jews were not deported to the extermination camps, but on 8 September 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allies, and in response, Germany took control of most Italian territory. The Italian Jews residing in the areas under German occupation were thus subjected to the racial laws. Between September 1943 and January 1944, at least 3,110 Jews were deported from Italy to Auschwitz-Birkenau, 2,224 of whom are known to have perished. By December 1944, another 4,056 had been deported to the east. By the end of the war, some 12,000 of the 44,500 Jews living in Italy at the time of its occupation by Germany had been deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.