After the coup of July 25, 1943, which temporarily ousted Mussolini from power, there were 39,907 Jews in Italy. In the dramatic events that followed, including Germany's rescue of Mussolini, the armistice with the Allies, and Italy's change of status – from being a country allied with Germany to being a country occupied by it – the Italian territory was dismembered. In southern Italy the Allied armies were laboriously advancing toward the north, liberating in the process more and more territory and internment camps for anti-Fascist Italian Jews and foreign Jews, whereas central and northern Italy remained for several months firmly in the clutches of the German occupying forces. In the north, Italians were totally subordinate to the Germans in military matters and subjected to massive restrictions in political affairs. They nonetheless remained largely independent as far as bureaucratic-administrative matters and domestic order were concerned.

In the central and northern regions the Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI) was formed, a new Fascist (and this time republican) Italian state. Its capital was Salò on Lake Garda, and Mussolini was once again at the head of its government, with Rudolf Rahn, the Third Reich's plenipotentiary, looking over his shoulder.

At the beginning of September 1943, the Jews, both Italians and foreign refugees, were trapped in the territory of the RSI.