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The Italian resistance between history and memory

2005; Routledge; Volume: 10; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13545710500314090

1469-9583

Paolo Pezzino,

European history and politics

Abstract Abstract Since the 1960s the Resistance has held pride of place in public ceremonial, political debate and to a point also in historcial writing in Italy. The emphasis on its popular and national character transformed the Resistance into the struggle of the whole country to rid Italy of the German invaders and the small number of Italian fascists who remained their allies, but in ways that took no account of the complexity of people's reactions and the different ways in which Italians experienced the years immediately after the fall of fascism. In the last decade, however, numerous accounts have been published that contradict the images of the Resistance that for 30 years have constituted the 'official' memory of the Italian Republic. As a result, the Resistance offers a classic example of the 'public use of history', in which historical interpretation has served primarily to justify party political, instutitional and idelogical ends. It is now clear, however, that the supposed unity against fascism was more the result of agreement that there were limits beyond which political differences could not be pressed rather than of a deeper political unity that might have provided the basis for the political and institutional reform of the Italian Republic. The contrasting memories and interpretations of that period that have recently re-emerged for the same reason make it more difficult to project a new Italian democracy for the future. Keywords: World War IIresistancememorypublic historyfascismNazi Germany Notes 1 Pavone's book is part of a debate that has involved the most critically acute elements in contemporary Italian historiography, above all of the Left: see, for example, Gallerano (1986 Gallerano, N. 1986. 'Critica e crisi del paradigma antifascista'. Problemi del Socialismo, 7 (special issue entitled Fascismo e antifascismo negli anni della Repubblica). [Google Scholar]). Gallerano recognizes the delays of 'antifascist culture' in confronting 'some clichés even taboos in its tradition: from the orthodox image of a unanimously patriotic antifascism … to the psychological removal of the lacerating and contradictory processes set off as the collective conscience tried to free itself of its compromises with fascism, to the problem of violence. (There has also been) … and the inability to go beyond a reading of the years between the wars, but above all of republican Italy, through the over-politicised and reductive prism of fascism/antifascism' (133). For this reason judgments such as those of De Felice seem too perfunctory when they speak generically of the 'received wisdom of the Resistance' (De Felice 1995 De Felice, F. 1995. Rosso e nero, Edited by: Chessa, P. Milan: Baldini & Castoldi. 8 ff. [Google Scholar]), at least when referring to the field of historical study. 2 In truth the thesis is still not accepted, above all among veterans of resistance associations: see for example, the monograph number of Lettera ai compagni (33(6), November/December 2003) entitled Resistenza guerra di liberazione non guerra civile. For a critique, from the point of view of juridical exegesis, of the expression 'civil war' see Gallo (1995 Gallo, E. 1995. "'La questione della continuità dello Stato'". In Passato e presente della Resistenza, Edited by: Vv, Aa. Rome: Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri. Dipartimento per l'informazione e l'editoria. [Google Scholar]: 66 – 96). 3 On this topic see Baldissara and Pezzino (2004 Pezzino, P. 2004. "'Guerra ai civili. Le stragi tra storia e memoria'". In Crimini e memorie di guerra. Violenze contro le popolazioni e politiche del ricordo, Edited by: Baldissara, L and Pezzino, P. Naples: l'ancora del mediterraneo. [Google Scholar]). 4 It was unrealistic to say the least to pretend that the moral and political value of the armed struggle of some tens of thousands of partisans could make the Allies forget the responsibilities of Fascist Italy, and push them to reconsider Italy's position as a defeated power that had unconditionally surrendered (and was later admitted as a co-belligerent more for political motives than for any real contribution to the war that the king's and Badoglio's army could offer). On the relationship between the Allies and the Italian governing powers, see Ellwood (1977 Ellwood, D. 1977. L'alleato nemico: la politica dell'occupazione anglo-americana in Italia, 1943 – 1946, Milan: Feltrinelli. [Google Scholar]). 5 On the subject of the Resistance 'betrayed', see Pavone (1992 Pavone, C. 1992. 'La resistenza oggi: problema storiografico e problema civile'. Rivista di storia contemporanea, 21(2-3): 456–480. [Google Scholar]: 456 – 80). For a recent historiographical revival of this theme, one with more evident motivations, see Ginsborg (1989 Ginsborg, P. 1989. Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra a oggi, Turin: Einaudi. ch. 2, [Google Scholar]: ch. 2; 1992). 6 On this question see the excellent book by Peli (2004 Peli, S. 2004. La resistenza in Italia. Storia e critica, Turin: Einaudi. [Google Scholar]). 7 On 7 February 1945 a group of Garabaldini gap members stationed in shepherds' huts near Porzûs in the province of Udine, attacked and killed about twenty partisans of the autonomous formation 'Osoppo'. The massacre formed part of the conflict between osovani and garibaldini that was grafted onto the alleged betrayal of national interests by the latter and by the betrayal of antifascist values by the former – these were the basis of the mutual recriminations. This explosive situation was exacerbated not only by the nationalistic claims of the Yugoslavs, but also by the support (later mitigated for tactical reasons) they received from the Italian Communist Party. Franceschini's (1996 Franceschini, D. 1996. "Porzûs. La Resistenza lacerata". Trieste: Istituto Regionale per la Storia del Movimento di Liberazione nel Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Presentation by G. Valdevit, Introduction by P. Pezzino, [Google Scholar]) synthesis of these events is helpful. 8 See, for example Feltri (1994 Feltri, V. 1994. "'La religione antifascista'". In Fascismo/antifascismo, Edited by: Colombo, F and Feltri, V. Milan: Rizzoli. [Google Scholar]). These questions were a matter of widespread political debate in the years of the crisis of the Italian political system, cf. Mastropaolo (2000 Mastropaolo, A. 2000. Antipolitica all'origine della crisi italiana, Naples: l'ancora del mediterraneo. [Google Scholar]). 9 On the purges, see, Pavone (1982 Pavone, C. 1982. "'Ancora sulla "continuità dello Stato"'". In Scritti storici in memoria di Enzo Piscitelli Edited by: Paci, R. Padova. [Google Scholar]) and Flores (1977 Flores, M. 1977. "'L'epurazione'". In L'Italia dalla liberazione alla repubblica, Edited by: Vv, Aa. Milan: Feltrinelli. [Google Scholar]: 413 – 67), and, more recently, Domenico (1996 Domenico, R P. 1996. Processo ai fascisti, Milan: Rizzoli. [originally published 1991]. [Google Scholar]), Woller (1997 Woller, H. 1997. I conti col fascismo. L'epurazione in Italia 1943 – 1948, Bologna: il Mulino [originally published 1996]. [Google Scholar]) and Dondi (1999 Dondi, M. 1999. La lunga liberazione. Giustizia e violenza nel dopoguerra italiano, Rome: Editori Riuniti. [Google Scholar]). 10 See also the critical evaluation of Renzo De Felice's work in the same volume (Santomassimo 2000 Santomassimo, G. 2000. "'Il ruolo di Renzo De Felice'". In Fascismo e antifascismo. Rimozioni, revisioni, negazioni, Edited by: Collotti, E. Rome-Bari: Laterza. [Google Scholar]: 415 – 29). 11 One thinks of the repeated denials by the illustrious journalist Indro Montanelli of the use of poison gas in the Ethiopian campaign, which now has been proved by historians. On the crimes committed by Italians, see the essays in Baldissara and Pezzino (2004 Pezzino, P. 2004. "'Guerra ai civili. Le stragi tra storia e memoria'". In Crimini e memorie di guerra. Violenze contro le popolazioni e politiche del ricordo, Edited by: Baldissara, L and Pezzino, P. Naples: l'ancora del mediterraneo. [Google Scholar]). On the absence of postwar punishments of Italian war crimes, see Focardi (2000 Focardi, F. 2000. 'La questione della punizione dei criminali di guerra in Italia dopo la fine del secondo conflitto mondiale'. Quellen und Forschungen aus italianischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 80: 543–624. [Google Scholar]); Focardi and Klinkhammer (2001). 12 Levi was referring to an area 'of poorly defined contours that both separates and joins the two fields of masters and servants' (p. 29), an area of mediation between power and those subjected to power, to which even the victims could have access. The common usage of the term now indicates instead an amorphous, vague zone that denies legitimacy to any established power. For more on the 'grey zone' see Pavone (1998 Pavone, C. 1998. 'Caratteri ed eredità della "zona grigia"'. Passato e Presente, 43: 5–12. [Google Scholar]). 13 In recent years numerous volumes have been published on the massacres of civilians in Italy during World War II: for a critical review, see Gribaudi (1999 Gribaudi, G. April 1999. "'Guerra, violenza, responsabilità. Alcuni volumi sui massacri nazisti in Italia'". In Quaderni Storici Vol. 24, April, 136–149. 100 1 [Google Scholar]). On the relationship between massacres and reprisals, see also the data cited by Pezzino (2004 Pezzino, P. 2004. "'Guerra ai civili. Le stragi tra storia e memoria'". In Crimini e memorie di guerra. Violenze contro le popolazioni e politiche del ricordo, Edited by: Baldissara, L and Pezzino, P. Naples: l'ancora del mediterraneo. [Google Scholar]: 20 – 1). 14 See the collection of records edited by Collotti and Gozzini (1996 Collotti, E and Gozzini, G. 1996. 'La guerra di sterminio'. Passato e Presente, 38: 142–158. [Google Scholar]). 15 This does not, however, prevent the dimension of responsibility, in Todorov's sense of 'ethic of responsibility', from being used as a useful litmus test for partisan involvement. The possibility of reprisal could not be ruled out of the series of evaluations that the partisans had to make before every action (Todorov, 1995a Todorov, T. 1995a. Una tragedia vissuta. Scene di guerra civile Milan, Garzanti [originally published 1994]. [Google Scholar]). It is Todorov who reminds us that 'human existence is impregnated thoroughly with values and … , as a result, the desire to expel from human knowledge every link with values is an inhuman task' (Todorov 1995b Todorov, T. 1995b. Le morali della storia, Turin: Einaudi. [originally published 1991]. [Google Scholar]: 17). 16 Huyse holds that 'in these countries, collaborationism and the subsequent purges continue to unsettle "collective memory"' (1998: 125). 17 On this point I agree with Luzzatto (2004 Luzzatto, S. 2004. La crisi dell'antifascismo, Turin: Einaudi. [Google Scholar]). In his pamphlet Luzzatto reproposes the perennial reality of antifascism as the constitutional foundation of the Italy of today, without questioning the reasons – not all of which can be traced back to it political adversaries – why that paradigm broke down.