A Case of Racial Discrimination: Azeglio Bemporad, astronomer poet Angela Mangano INAF- Catania Astrophysical Observatory, Italy The stories from our archives do not only speak of scientific progress, tools and data, but also of the events of the astronomers as men, and the intertwining of their work and private, political and social life. In the case of Azeglio Bemporad, who worked at Catania Astrophysical Observatory until 1938, year of purge against Jews in Italy, the painful history of Fascism enters fully our scientific institutions, changing the life of a person who had never dealt with politics. Documents: Doc. 1: Letter n. 751 dated 17 June 1938/XVI, sent from Azeglio Bemporad to Minister for National Education, in: Historical Archive of Astrophysical Observatory in Catania, Correspondence Series, B. 5, f. 6 Doc. 2: Circular Letter n. 12336 dated 9 August 1938/XVI, sent from the Cabinet of the Minister for National Education Giuseppe Bottai, regarding: “Census of the staff of Jewish origin”, in: Historical Archive of Astrophysical Observatory in Catania,Correspondence Series, B. 5, f. 6 Doc. 3: Letter n. 845 dated 11 February 1939/XVII, sent from the Ministry for National Education, regarding: Handing over of the Osservatorio Astrofisico from prof. Azeglio Bemporad to Dr Luigi Taffara, in: Historical Archive of Astrophysical Observatory in Catania,Correspondence Series, B. 5, f. 7 In December 1938/XVI, Azeglio Bemporad, after having been forced to abide by all the provisions passed by the Government with regard to Jews, had to abandon his work, studies and ambitions as astronomer, handing everything over to Luigi Taffara (1881-1966), as Director-in-charge. Also the proposal which he had submitted to the ministry for completing work on the Astro-photographic Catalogue, completing its volumes totally free of charge, was rejected, and the assignment was transferred to Giuseppe Alessandro Favaro through the following letter: From: MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION Rome, February 11th 1939/XVII No. 845 SUBJECT: Catania Astrophysical Observatory Delivery made by Prof. Bemporad Azeglio to dr. Luigi Taffara I have read the Observatory delivery report by prof. Azeglio Bemporad. Please communicate to Prof. Bemporad that I entrusted the completion of the astrographic catalogue to prof. Giuseppe Alessandro Favaro, who was appointed by me to go there and detect all the data, and if necessary, all the material related to the catalogue. Then you will want to communicate to prof. Bemporad that no later than the end of the current month he must leave the accommodation currently occupied by him in the Observatory. I look forward to an assurance of performance. (see doc. 3) It was a tremendous blow to see the work on the Catalogue taken away from him, to which he had devoted such passionate and constant effort throughout his lifetime and for which he had received recognition at international level. Indeed, during the International Astronomical Union Congress in Paris in 1935, he had been officially praised for making so much progress as regards the calculation and publishing work of the volumes in the Catania area, compared to other observatories. In the early months of 1939, he was forced to leave his quarters at the Observatory where he lived with his family. Other painful events followed this adversity: he moved to Adrano, at the foot of Mount Etna, and in 1943 his wife Annita Cingoli (1873-1943) died of a serious illness; then his house was burnt down by a fire caused by bombing during an air raid, which he miraculously escaped as did his son Guido and daughter Bice. At last, on the 28th of December 1943, the allied forces invaded the island; he was reinstated in his capacity as Director, but he was no longer able to conduct any scientific work due to ill health. He died in Catania on the 11th of February, 1945. Azeglio Bemporad, born in Siena on March 19th 1875, attended the Liceo Classico Forteguerri in Pistoia, and the humanities rem