NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

August 9, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CYRIL LAGVANEC TO DISCUSS THE ITALIAN INVASION OF ETHIOPIA AT EAST BANK REGIONAL LIBRARY

JEFFERSON, LA – Cyril M. Lagvanec, PhD, curator of the American-Italian Research Library located on the second floor of the East Bank Regional Library, will give a lecture titled “Mussolini’s Invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 7, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie.

This presentation is free of charge and open to the public. Lagvanec’s talk occurs as part of the regularly scheduled meeting of the World War II Discussion Group.

Ethiopia, also known as Abyssinia, was invaded on Oct. 3, 1935, by Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini.

A border incident between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland that December gave Benito Mussolini an excuse to intervene. Rejecting all arbitration offers, the Italians invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935.

Italy had unsuccessfully tried to conquer Ethiopia in the 1890s. It was one of only two independent African nations at the time, The Italians committed countless atrocities on the independent African state — poisonous gas, aerial bombardment, flamethrowers, and concentration camps were used to subjugate the Ethiopians.

Often seen as one of the episodes that prepared the way for World War II, the war demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations when League decisions were not supported by the great powers.

Cyril Lagvanec earned his undergraduate degree in history from Baylor University, his master’s degree in British and European History from Tulane University, and his doctoral degree in American History from Texas A&M University. Through his long career, Dr. Lagvanec has taught at Jesuit High School, Tulane, Loyola, Delgado, Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, East Carolina University, and Texas A&M.

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net. Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on social media (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

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Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO