The Jewish community in Trieste has been an integral part of the northern Adriatic port city since the 13th century. However, anti-Semitism was a recurring theme during the over 500 years of Habsburg rule. In Italy, which Trieste became a part of after World War I, Jews were emancipated. In Trieste, they held high economic positions and also made political careers as fascists. Nevertheless, the city, with the third-largest Jewish community in Italy, became a testing ground for state anti-Semitism, which Mussolini officially announced from Trieste in 1938. Since the German occupation of Italy, Friedrich Rainer ruled the Adriatic Coast Operations Zone as the Supreme Commissioner from 1943 until the end of the war, with Trieste as its capital. There, Odile Globocnik established the Risiera di San Sabba, the only concentration camp in the southern hemisphere with a crematorium.