Bruno Segre (4 September 1918 – 27 January 2024) was an Italian lawyer, journalist, politician, and

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

Early life

Segre was born in Turin on 4 September 1918. He was a student of Luigi Einaudi, graduating in law with a thesis dedicated to Benjamin Constant, founder of liberalism. Due to laws at the time, his Jewish ancestry prevented him from practicing law. On 21 December 1942, he was arrested for political defeatism and spent over three months in prison, while his father was interned in

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

. In 1943 he began a clandestine existence with his family in a small village in the Cuneo area between Busca,

Caraglio Caraglio is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about northwest of Cuneo. As of 1 January 2018, it had a population of 6,782 and an area of .All demograp ...

and

Dronero Dronero ( oc, Draonier) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about northwest of Cuneo at the entrance of the Valle Maira. Main sights *''Ponte Vecchio'', als ...

. In September 1944, in Turin, Segre attempted to escape arrest by the National Republican Guard. A shootout ensued from which he saved himself thanks to the metal cigarette case he carried in his jacket, which stopped the travel of a bullet. However, he was captured and sent to the barracks in Via Asti and then transferred to the Le Nuove judicial prison, from where he fortunately managed to escape some time later, by bribing a U.P.I. official. In the summer of 1946 he wrote a memoir dedicated to the events of this prison experience, Those of Via Asti, which he published only in 2013. Segre joined the armed resistance by enlisting in the 1st Alpine division " Giustizia e Libertà" in Pradleves (Val Grana) and took part in the liberation of Caraglio. He was a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

of the

Grand Orient of Italy The Grand Orient of Italy (GOI) ( it, Grande Oriente d'Italia) is an Italian masonic grand lodge founded in 1805; the viceroy Eugene of Beauharnais was instrumental in its establishment. It was based at the Palazzo Giustiniani, Rome, Italy fr ...

and was highly influenced by Benjamin Constant, founded of the liberalism.

Career

Segre then worked as a reporter at the liberal newspaper "L'Opinione", which replaced "

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

". It is in this position that he met Alcide De Gasperi, Ferruccio Parri, Gaetano Salvemini, Piero Calamandrei, Leo Valiani,

Giuliano Vassalli Giuliano Vassalli (25 April 1915 – 21 October 2009) was an Italian politician, lecturer and lawyer. Life He was born in Perugia, son of Filippo Vassalli, a famous lecturer and lawyer. During World War II Vassalli was imprisoned by Nazi forces ...

and numerous other figures. After the closure of "L'Opinione", in 1947 he was editor of the social democratic newspaper "Mondo Nuovo". After the publication of this newspaper ceased in 1948, he resumed his legal practice. He passed the prosecutor's exam, while continuing to collaborate with "

Paese Sera Paese (Venetian: ''Paexe'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about west of Treviso. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 19,898 and an are ...

", "Il Corriere di Trieste", "Corriere di Sicilia" and other newspapers. In the 1970s, during his press campaign in favor of divorce, he rented a small tourist plane from which 50,000 leaflets were dropped over Turin with this text: "Divorce does not come from heaven, but from the law of the Hon. Fortune". From 1958 to 1968 he was councilor of the Psychiatric Hospitals of Turin, Collegno, Grugliasco, then councilor of the Piedmont-Valle d'Aosta regional order of journalists and national councilor of the Italian National Press Federation. From 1975 to 1980 he was group leader of the Italian Socialist Party in the Turin City Council, but left the party at the time of Bettino Craxi; from 1980 to 1990 he was effective president of the San Paolo Banking Institute of Turin and director of various companies owned by the institute. Segre was president of the Turin provincial Federation of the National Association of Italian Anti-Fascist Political Persecuted People (ANPPIA), honorary president of the National Association of Free Thought "Giordano Bruno" (of whose official body, Libero Pensiero, he was director for years) and honorary president of Turin council for the secularity of institutions. He was also vice-president of the Turin Cremation Society (SOCREM), after having been president of the Italian Federation of SOCREM for 40 years, founder and director of the magazine "L'ara". Segre was awarded honorary citizenship by the municipalities of

Bollengo Bollengo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, about northeast of Turin. It borders the municipalities of Torrazzo, Burolo, Ivrea, Palazzo Canavese, Magnano, Albiano d'Ivrea and Azeglio ...

, Sarzana and Giaveno. Segre inaugurated a plaque in

in memory of the partisan commander and illustrious journalist Giorgio Bocca and on the staircase of the University of Turin a plaque in memory of Prof. Gioele Solari, professor of philosophy of law. Segre died in Turin on 27 January 2024, at the age of 105.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segre, Bruno 1918 births 2024 deaths Italian Jews Italian partisans Italian political philosophers Italian Freemasons Members of Giustizia e Libertà Jews in the Italian resistance University of Turin alumni Italian Socialist Party politicians Politicians from Turin Italian centenarians Men centenarians Jewish centenarians