Mussolini orders deportation of all Jews

Source: partigiani.de „Germany is indeed your friend“ - German propaganda poster

On 3 September 1943 Italy signed a cease-fire agreement with the Allies. Immediately thereafter German troops disarmed the Italian combat forces („Axis Case“). In some places German-Italian fire fights broke out. On Hitler’s orders German special force units were able to free the deposed „Duce“ Benito Mussolini from prison. Mussolini then took charge of a „republican-fascist“ counter government in northern Italy. From his seat of government in Salò on Lake Garda he orders on 1 December 1943 the arrest of all Jews in his area of influence and their deportation to concentration camps. Their fortunes are to be confiscated.