Paul Anthony Ginsborg (18 July 1945 – 11 May 2022) was a British historian. In the 1980s, he was Professor at the

University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 1240 ...

; from 1992, he was Professor of Contemporary European History at the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

Education

Ginsborg studied at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

(B.A. 1966). He was a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Churchill College Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities. In 1958, a trust was establish ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. With Pancho Pardi, he opposed Berlusconi justice "reforms", with the girotondi movement.

Law on Holocaust denial

Ginsborg was of Jewish parentage. Along with

Carlo Ginzburg Carlo Ginzburg (; born April 15, 1939) is an Italian historian and proponent of the field of microhistory. He is best known for ''Il formaggio e i vermi'' (1976, English title: ''The Cheese and the Worms''), which examined the beliefs of an Ital ...

, Marcello Flores, Sergio Luzzatto,

Claudio Pavone Claudio Pavone (30 November 1920 – 29 November 2016) was an Italian historian and archivist. Pavone was the president of the Historic Institute of the Liberation movement in Italy, the president of the Italian Society of Contemporary History an ...

Enzo Traverso Enzo Traverso (born 14 October 1957) is an Italian scholar of European intellectual history. He is the author of several books on critical theory, the Holocaust, Marxism, memory, totalitarianism, revolution, and contemporary historiography. His bo ...

, etc., he signed a call in January 2002 against a law project, presented by Justice Minister

Clemente Mastella Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947) is an Italian politician who has served as the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He is the leader of Union of Democrats for Europe, a minor centrist Italian party. He was Minister of Labour i ...

, which was to specifically penalize

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

. They argued that Italy's legislation was sufficient to cope with such acts. The amended law project finally restricted itself to reinforcing sentences concerning

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

.Sous la pression des historiens, l’Italie renonce à pénaliser le négationnisme
, Human Rights League (LDH), 1 February 2007

Publications

*''Daniele Manin e la rivoluzione veneziana del 1848-49'', Milano, Feltrinelli, 1978; Torino,

Einaudi Einaudi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), Italian politician *Mario Einaudi (1905–1994), Italian political scientist, son of Luigi *Giulio Einaudi (1912–1999), Italian publisher, son o ...

, 2007. . *''Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra a oggi. Società e politica 1943-1988'', 2 voll., Torino, Einaudi, 1989. ; Milano, Einaudi scuola, 1996. .(In English: A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943–1988, Macmillan 2003). *''Dialogo su Berlinguer'', con

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also serv ...

, Firenze, Giunti, 1994. . *''Stato dell'Italia'', a cura di, Milano, Il saggiatore-B. Mondadori, 1994. . *''Le virtù della Repubblica. Conversazione a Formia'', a cura di, Milano, Il saggiatore, 1994. . *''Enti locali, società civile e famiglia nell'educazione in Toscana'', a cura di e con

Dario Ragazzini Dario is a masculine given name, etymologically related to Darius. Given name *Dario Allevi (born 1965), Italian politician * Dario Argento (born 1940), Italian film director * Dario Badinelli (born 1946), Italian triple jumper *Dario Bellezza ( ...

Gastone Tassinari Gastone is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Gastone Baldi (1901–1971), Italian professional football player *Gastone Bean (born 1936), Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker *Gastone ...

, Firenze, Edizioni Regione Toscana, 1996. *''L'Italia del tempo presente. Famiglia, società civile, Stato 1980-1996'', Torino, Einaudi, 1998. . *''Storia d'Italia 1943-1996. Famiglia, società, Stato'', Torino, Einaudi, 1998. . *''Un'Italia minore. Famiglia, istruzione e tradizioni civiche in Valdelsa'', a cura di e con

Francesco Ramella Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

, Firenze, Giunti, 1999. . *''Italy and its Discontents 1980-2001'', Penguin, 2001. *''Berlusconi. Ambizioni patrimoniali in una democrazia mediatica'', Torino, Einaudi, 2003. . *''Il tempo di cambiare. Politica e potere della vita quotidiana'', Torino, Einaudi, 2004. . *''La democrazia che non c'è'', Torino, Einaudi, 2006. . *''Storia d'Italia. Annali'', XXII, ''Il Risorgimento'', a cura di e con

Alberto Mario Banti Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

, Torino, Einaudi, 2007. . *''Salviamo l'Italia'', Torino, Einaudi, 2010. . *''Berlusconismo. Analisi di un sistema di potere'', a cura di e con

Enrica Asquer Enrica is a feminine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Enrica Antonioni (born 1952), Italian film director and actress *Enrica Bonaccorti (born 1949), Italian actress *Enrica Calabresi (1891–1944), Italian zoologist *Enri ...

, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2011. . *''Passions and Politics'', with Sergio Labate ( Polity, 2019).

References

External links

Contributor page
at ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'' 1945 births 2022 deaths British Jews British historians Jewish historians Academic staff of the University of Florence Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge {{Italy-historian-stub