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Italy Days of Glory The period between the deposal of Mussolini in 1943 and the end of the War on 25 April 1945 was very quickly defined in Italy as the time of the struggle for liberation. From that time on Fascism was considered a foreign element in Italian history. The first government after 1945 already saw the Resistance movement in the national tradition of the first movement for unification in the 19 th century, the Risorgimento. In the 1960s the Communists broke with this construct of memory. They turned the Resistance (Resistenza) into a purely Communist Resistance (Resistenza Rossa). This interpretation only bonded with the part of society that sympathized with Communism. Around 1970 extreme leftist groups were formed that saw themselves in the tradition of the partisan movements. Twenty years after the end of the War a majority of the population rejected the "Resistenza Rossa" and with it the Resistance altogether. With the political changes of 1989, the end of the Cold War, and a crisis of the Italian state in the 1990s, there was a further revision of the interpretation of the Resistenza. The Rightists dropped their interpretation of the Resistenza as a "betrayal" of the homeland, and the Communist Left distanced itself from the idea of the Resistenza Rossa. The day of liberation was declared an official holiday. On June 2, 2001, the 55 th anniversary of the abolition of the monarchy, President Carlo Ciampi stressed that the decision of the Italians to have a republic could not be separated from the return of freedom and national independence on 25 April 1945. |
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In 1945/46 the Comitato Volontari della Libertà (CVL), one of the most important Resistance organizations, put together exhibitions about the Resistance in Italy and France. They were shown in France to demonstrate the ideological proximity of the Italians to the French Résistance movement. The exhibitions conveyed the idea of the unity between the people and the Resistance right after the War. The heroic protagonist was the patriotic partisan. It was said that the young partisans, confronted in skirmishes by the overwhelming power of the enemy, were often doomed to death. And yet they could look forward to a record of success. Their sacrifice was not in vain, for they "saved Italy's honour after so much shame ". |
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In his film "Roma, città aperta" Roberto Rossellini succeeded in depicting the unity between the people and the partisans. An entire people stands united here against the occupying forces. The most important scene in the film shows the Communist Manfredi being tortured to death; in the last second before he dies the priest Don Pietro is able to whisper to him that he has betrayed nothing. The unity of the people reveals itself in the cooperation between the Catholic priest and the Communist in the Resistance. This film influenced the understanding of the Resistance like none other and made a decisive contribution toward cementing the connection between the "people" and the "Resistenza". |
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