Italy’s Divided Memory PDF
Preview Italy’s Divided Memory
Italian and Italian American Studies Stanislao G. Pugliese Hofstra University Series Editor This publishing initiative seeks to bring the latest scholarship in Italian and Italian Ameri- can history, literature, cinema, and cultural studies to a large audience of specialists, general readers, and students. I&IAS will feature works on modern Italy (Renaissance to the present) and Italian American culture and society by established scholars as well as new voices in the academy. This endeavor will help to shape the evolving fields of Italian and Italian American Studies by reemphasizing the connection between the two. The following editorial board con- sists of esteemed senior scholars who act as advisors to the series editor. REBECCA WEST JOSEPHINE GATTUSO HENDIN University of Chicago New York University FRED GARDAPHÉ PHILIP V. CANNISTRARO† Queens College, CUNY Queens College and the Graduate School, CUNY ALESSANDRO PORTELLI MILLICENT MARCUS Università di Roma “La Sapienza” Yale University Queer Italia: Same-Sex Desire in Italian Literature and Film edited by Gary P. Cestaro, July 2004 Frank Sinatra: History, Identity, and Italian American Culture edited by Stanislao G. Pugliese, October 2004 The Legacy of Primo Levi edited by Stanislao G. Pugliese, December 2004 Italian Colonialism edited by Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Mia Fuller, July 2005 Mussolini’s Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City Borden W. Painter Jr., July 2005 Representing Sacco and Vanzetti edited by Jerome H. Delamater and Mary Anne Trasciatti, September 2005 Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel Nunzio Pernicone, October 2005 Italy in the Age of Pinocchio: Children and Danger in the Liberal Era Carl Ipsen, April 2006 The Empire of Stereotypes: Germaine de Staël and the Idea of Italy Robert Casillo, May 2006 Race and the Nation in Liberal Italy, 1861-1911: Meridionalism, Empire, and Diaspora Aliza S. Wong, October 2006 Women in Italy, 1946-1960: An Interdisciplinary Study edited by Penelope Morris, October 2006 Debating Divorce in Italy: Marriage and the Making of Modern Italians, 1860-1974 Mark Seymour, December 2006 A New Guide to Italian Cinema Carlo Celli and Marga Cottino-Jones, January 2007 Human Nature in Rural Tuscany: An Early Modern History Gregory Hanlon, March 2007 The Missing Italian Nuremberg: Cultural Amnesia and Postwar Politics Michele Battini, September 2007 Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy: Transformations in Society and Culture edited by Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi, October 2007 Piero Gobetti and the Politics of Liberal Revolution James Martin, December 2008 Primo Levi and Humanism after Auschwitz: Posthumanist Reflections Jonathan Druker, June 2009 Oral History, Oral Culture, and Italian Americans Edited by Luisa Del Giudice, November 2009 Italy’s Divided Memory John Foot, December 2009 Italy’s Divided Memory John Foot italy’s divided memory Copyright © John Foot, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61847-3 All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-38105-0 ISBN 978-0-230-10183-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230101838 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Foot, John, 1964- Italy’s divided memory / John Foot. p. cm.—(Italian and Italian American studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-349-38105-0 1. Italy—History—1914–1945. 2. Italy—History—1945– 3. World War, 1914–1918—Social aspects—Italy. 4. World War, 1939–1945—Social aspects—Italy. 5. Memory—Social aspects—Italy. 6. Collective memory— Italy. 7. Monuments—Italy. 8. War memorials—Italy. 9. Political culture— Italy. 10. Italy—Social conditions. I. Title. DG568.F66 2009 945.091—dc22 2009023745 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: December 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix 1 Divided Memory: Theory, Methodology, Practice 1 2 World War I: Monument Wars, Unknown Soldiers, and Open-air Cemeteries 31 3 Fascist Memories, Memories of Fascism 55 4 Italian Wartime Camps, Italians in Wartime Camps: Traces, Memories, Silences, 1940–2008 71 5 1940–1943: Victory, Occupation, Defeat, Collapse, Memory 97 6 Nazi Massacres and Divided Memory: Stories, Causes, Scapegoats, Memoryscapes 125 7 The Resistance: Three Wars, Many Memories, Many Silences 147 8 The Strategy of Tension and Terrorism: Piazza Fontana and the “Moro Case” 183 Conclusion: End of the Voyage: Facts, Memory, History 205 Notes 209 References 225 Index 251 This page intentionally left blank Illustrations 1.1 San Miniato, Tuscany, 2008: New plaque dedicated to the 1944 killings. 29 3.1 Matteotti portrait, 1980s: Italian Socialist Party symbol. 65 4.1 Bolzano: Public artwork dedicated to wartime deportations. Christine Tschager (artist). 88 4.2 Bolzano: Plaques dedicated to the memory of the wartime Nazi camp, 2008. 89 5.1 Bologna: Plaque commemorating the events of Cefalonia and Corfu. 119 6.1 Guardistallo: Plaque dedicated to the massacre of 1944. 140 7.1 Carrara: Damaged monument to the Resistance. 150 7.2 Carrara: Plaque relating to the damage to the monument. 151 7.3 Moiaccio (Piacenza): Plaque (with fascist graffitti) relating to the killing of four partisans. 162 8.1 Piazza Fontana, Milan: Plaque dedicated to Giuseppe Pinelli. 187 8.2 Piazza Fontana, Milan: New plaque dedicated to Giuseppe Pinelli, 2006. 190 8.3 Piazza Fontana, Milan: Both plaques dedicated to Giuseppe Pinelli, 2008. 192 9.1 San Miniato: The two plaques dedicated to the deaths of 1944. Council Building, 2008. 207 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Many, many people have helped with the research upon which this book is based and its writing. I am grateful to numerous individuals and institu- tions for advice over material and individual cases of “divided memory,” as well as monuments, plaques, or ex-memorials. I would like to thank all the following for help with specific questions: Alfio Bernabei, Alan Davis, David Forgacs, Filippo Colombara, Adolfo Mignemi, Enzo Pennone, Roberta Suzzi Valli, Stuart Oglethorpe, John Quick. Carla Giacomozzi of the Archivio Storico in Bolzano was an extraordinary source of help, mate- rial and good humor. Her work around the memory of the wartime camp in Bolzano, including the superb guides that tourists can now use to visit the many places of memory in that city, has been exemplary. Eleanor Chi- ari, Phil Cooke, John Dickie, Maria Novella Mercuri, and Robert Gordon were all generous with their time and read chapters of the manuscript. Dan Sayer and Nick Dines were invaluable in my thinking about memory and place during work in Naples, Venice, and Milan. Thanks also go to Gloria Nemec in Trieste and the staff of that unique institution that is the Istituto De Martino in Sesto Fiorentino in Florence. In San Miniato I was gener- ously assisted by Roberto Cerri, who guided me with good humor through the difficult highways and byways of public and private memories in that small hill town. The Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded me a research leave grant in 2008 to complete this project and the Italian depart- ment at University College London gave me a term of leave for the same purpose. Monica Foot was as efficient as ever with the index. Giovanni Contini’s work and insights into divided memories have been a constant inspiration, as has been the work of Luisa Passerini and Alessan- dro Portelli. Some of the stories told in this book were first aired on Radio Popolare Network in a program run by a brilliant young broadcaster, Paolo Maggioni. At the same time the best magazine in Italy, Internazio- nale, generously hosted a series of ten articles that form the basis of this volume. Thanks to all those at Internazionale and to the director, Giovanni de Mauro, for the opportunity to write for a larger public than that usually afforded to academics.
The list of books you might like
