Guido Jung

Jung was born in Sicily to a wealthy, Orthodox Jewish merchant family who had emigrated from Germany. The Palazzo Jung on via Lincoln in Palermo had belonged to the family. As a young man, he undertook a business apprenticeship in London.

Private sector and military service

Jung took over the family business of fruit importing and ran it to continued commercial success. He also served on the board of directors of the Bank of Palermo, in recognition of which he was, in 1906, invested into the Order of the Crown of Italy at the degree of Cavaliere.

During World War I, Jung served in the Royal Italian Army's 25th Artillery Regiment, rising to the rank of captain and being decorated with the Bronze Medal of Military Valor which was, on application of Jung's commander, subsequently converted to the Silver Medal of Military Valor.

Minister of Finance (1932 to 1935)

Jung, who in 1922 had served as financial attache at the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C., was elevated to the Grand Council of Fascism in the summer of 1932 by virtue of his appointment as Minister of Finance; the senior ministers of the government were also de facto members of the Grand Council.

Prime Minister Benito Mussolini reasoned at the time that "a Jew should be at the head of finance".

During an official visit by Hermann Göring to Italy, Mussolini assigned Jung to meet with the German minister, prompting David Schwartz of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle to write that "it must have been a lesson in tolerance".

In May 1933, he represented Italy to the United States during tariff discussions and was feted with an official dinner at the White House by President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt.

In a subsequent meeting with Mussolini, U.S. ambassador John W. Garrett reported that "he [Mussolini] was very gratified at the cordiality of Jung’s reception in America".

As minister, Jung helped establish the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale. He was also the Italian delegate to the London Economic Conference and was credited in news reports with "keeping the conflicting elements of the parley from completely disrupting the conference". During the same Conference, he signed an agreement, sponsored by Galeazzo Ciano and at the time kept secret to the world, with the minister of China, T.V. Soong, that concluded the long-lasting negotiations for the settlement of the Boxer Indemnity and the outstanding amount of the Skoda loan with Italy.

At least two of Jung's brothers also served in the Royal Italian Army during World War I. Guido Jung died in Sicily.

Political views

In a 1933 interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jung compared Nazism to Fascism by equating it to the difference between "an infant to a ten-year-old boy". The following year he is on record as referring to Adolf Hitler as a "blockhead" and a "blatherer".

While he declared there was no antisemitism in Italy, Jung also dismissed the very existence of antisemitism, explaining to Emil Ludwig his belief that it was a "doctrine upheld by those sub-Alpine peoples who could not write at the time Rome saw Caesar, Vergil, and August".