Bruno Segre
{{Short description|Italian lawyer, journalist and politician (1918–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
Bruno Segre (4 September 1918 – 27 January 2024) was an Italian lawyer, journalist, politician, and partisan.{{Cite web |title=Interventi di Bruno Segre |url=https://www.radioradicale.it/soggetti/48140/bruno-segre |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=Radio Radicale |language=it}}
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.{{Cite web |date=1 September 2018 |title=I cento anni dell'avvocato antifascista Bruno Segre: 'Salvini ricorda Mussolini ma non temo per la democrazia' |url=https://video.repubblica.it/edizione/torino/i-cento-anni-dell-avvocato-antifascista-bruno-segre-salvini-ricorda-mussolini-ma-non-temo-per-la-democrazia/313361/313988 |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=Repubblica TV - Repubblica |language=it}}
On 21 December 1942, he was arrested for political defeatism and spent over three months in prison, while his father was interned in Abruzzo. In 1943 he and his family moved to a small village in the Cuneo area between Busca, Caraglio and Dronero.{{Cite web |title=Carlo Angela: Un medico stratega - Video |url=https://www.raiplay.it/video/2017/01/Carlo-Angela-Un-medico-stratega-9b5c5321-8c51-4c97-b55d-368e247be36f.html |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=RaiPlay |language=it}}
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 blocked the bullet. However, he was captured and sent to the barracks in Via Asti and then transferred to the Le Nuove judicial prison, from which he escaped some time later by bribing a U.P.I. official. In the summer of 1946 he wrote a memoir dedicated to the events of his prison experience, which he published in 2013.{{Cite web |title=Quelli di via Asti {{!}} Edizioni SEB27 |url=http://www.seb27.it/content/quelli-di-asti |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=www.seb27.it}}
He was a Freemason of the Grand Orient of Italy.{{cite web|url=https://www.grandeoriente.it/benjamin-constant-e-la-dicotomia-tra-la-liberta-degli-antichi-e-la-liberta-dei-moderni-il-filosofo-fondatore-del-liberalismo-fu-un-faro-per-il-massone-bruno-segre-c/|title=Benjamin Constant e la dicotomia tra la libertá degli antichi e la libertá dei moderni. Il filosofo fondatore del liberalismo fu un faro per il massone Bruno Segre|date=7 February 2024 |language=it}}
Career
Segre worked as a reporter at the liberal newspaper "L'Opinione", which replaced "La Stampa". It is in this position that he met Alcide De Gasperi, Ferruccio Parri, Gaetano Salvemini, Piero Calamandrei, Leo Valiani, and Giuliano Vassalli.{{Cite web |last=Rainews |first=Redazione di |date=27 January 2024 |title=Giornata della Memoria: addio a Bruno Segre, partigiano e avvocato, aveva 105 anni |url=https://www.rainews.it/articoli/2024/01/giornata-della-memoria-addio-a-bruno-segre-partigiano-e-avvocato-aveva-105-anni-d9a76dbd-54eb-49e1-8ac5-8661fa186f6f.html |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=RaiNews |language=it}}
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.{{Cite web |date=27 January 2024 |title=È morto a 105 anni Bruno Segre, partigiano e monumento dell'antifascismo |url=https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/01/27/news/bruno_segre_morto-421995036/ |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=la Repubblica |language=it}}
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, Sarzana and Giaveno.{{Cite web |date=27 January 2024 |title=Bruno Segre, partigiano morto a 105 anni. L'intervista inedita a Fanpage: "Mai arreso alle dittature" |url=https://www.fanpage.it/attualita/bruno-segre-partigiano-morto-a-105-anni-lintervista-inedita-a-fanpage-mai-arreso-alle-dittature/ |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=Fanpage |language=it}}
Segre died in Turin on 27 January 2024 at the age of 105.{{Cite web |date=27 January 2024 |title=Morto a Torino Bruno Segre, aveva 105 anni: avvocato, giornalista, partigiano e difensore di libertà e democrazia |url=https://www.lastampa.it/torino/2024/01/27/news/morto_torino_bruno_segre_105_anni-14025204/ |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=La Stampa |language=it}}
References
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Category:Italian political philosophers
Category:Members of Giustizia e Libertà
Category:Jews in the Italian resistance
Category:University of Turin alumni
Category:Italian Socialist Party politicians
Category:Politicians from Turin