Giorgio Bloch (1895-1979)

In his early days in America, Giorgio Bloch adapted to living as a resident physician in a large correctional institution, on Rickers Island, where violence was pervasive. He had left a young wife with two small children and a quiet and respected life in Italy: he had been a hospital director, had authored scientific publications and since 1922 he had taught at the University of Padua. He was a Jew married to an “Aryan” woman, but his name does not appear in the list of those professors who were removed under the racial laws of 1938. This was not an oversight. He had already been “barred” from any university positions earlier, in 1936, the victim of a relentless machination by the fascist Rector.