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Correspondence between Pontecorvo and the Ispettorato Compartimentale Agrario

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Includes letter to Pontecorvo, dated February 1939, from the Ministero delle Agricoltura e delle Foreste dismissing him from his position on the cattle breeding program at the Ispettorato Compartimentale Agrario due to Nazi inspired racial policies. Also includes draft letter from Ponte to the Ministero delle Agricoltura e delle Foreste dated 24 September 1944. At this point, the government is one of a series of transitional administrations under the authority of the monarchy, administrations which were in place after the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943, the fall of Mussolini, and the subsequent German occupation of the Northern half of the country. By late 1944, the Germans had been pushed back to the northernmost regions and the transitional administration was situated in Rome. It would appear that Pontecorvo is aiming to explore the possibility of gaining an academic or research post in Italy, whereas his pre-war employment appears to have been in a more technical role in the Agriculture Ministry, in the field of ‘zootecnica’ (animal husbandry). The reply on behalf of the Minister reads as a standard formal response, setting out the legal position and bureaucratic procedures. It makes no reference to his CV or his suggestion that he might usefully serve in an academic or research-based post .It is not known whether Pontecorvo applied for his old position or whether he was just curious to find out if he could go back to his old life in Italy. In September 1944 he was working as a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Institute of Animal Genetics.

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Correspondence between Pontecorvo and the Ispettorato Compartimentale Agrario

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