Book Claims Mussolini Complicit in Holocaust

A book just published in Italy has claimed that Mussolini, rather than being a reluctant participant in the Holocaust, forged a secret deal with Hitler to hand Jews to the SS and was far more anti-Semitic than once thought. The book 'The Shoah of Italy' says he was voicing anti-Semitic views as early as 1936 and his Racial Laws of 1938 reflected the regime's "biological racism". Until now, the passing of the laws, which made Jews second-class citizens, has been largely viewed as an attempt to curry favour with Hitler. The book's author, Michele Sarfatti, says that  correspondence between officials from Mussolini's puppet 'Republic of Salo' and the police suggests a pact under which the fascists would transfer Jews to the Germans and death in the camps.