04/26/2024
Wishing all the Italian Fellow Citizens a Safe and Happy "Festa Della Liberazione!"
For all the others, if you have time to read, take a moment to learn why this day is so important for us, today more than ever.
What is today, April 25th for Italy: you may have heard one time the song "Bella Ciao" and every Italian listen or sang it at least one time, or maybe like me, many times till the tears come down, fun fact, it is a 1919 gipsy song that became the symbol of Italian freedom and it is based on three foundations, freedom, fight against the dictation and the fight against injustice.
Why is important to remember April 25 and continue to celebrate? Here some dates to remember:
October 22, 1922 - Thousand of fascists march in Rome to organize the coup d'etat.
October 31, 1922 - The fascist govern of Benito Mussolini regime is born and the Italian Dictatorship starts.
Between 1925 and 1926 start of the "fascist laws" that cancel the legal norms that power democracy and allow to come into force and the parliament no longer has legislative power. No law can be presented without the authorization of the Duce (Mussolini).
1926 - My grandmother Delia is now 9 years old. All the political parties are cancelled with the exception of the fascist party.
Cancellation of the right to strike and closure of the oppositions newspapers. The freedom of speech was no longer a thing as many other practices.
For example, Mussolini prohibits to handshake and require everybody to use the most hygienic and virile Roman greeting. To give you an idea of how this laws was enforced: if by chance you didn't agree with the regime, at best you were beaten, imprisoned and sent into exile. When you are caught, they force you to drink a lot of castor oil, this practice is called "purge of the subverted", which causes a strong bout of diarrhea, the prisoner is forced not to use the bathroom and defecate on himself and is forced to go around in public. In the worst case scenario, the prisoner was killed. Another example: fascism banned the use of foreign terms such as sandwich, cocktail, champagne, and if we heard you you were fined
This regime lasted around 20 years.
September 8, 1943 is when the strong feeling of rebellion harbored for a long time leads to the birth of the Italian resistance. Italy, that at this point is in an alliance with Germany, is loosing the war. The Fascism seams to be at the end and Badoglio take the place of Mussolini. Badoglio sign the Armistice with the allies and the country is divided into two parts. To the south there was Italian group allied with England and US, but to the North there was a new group called Republic of Salò, still formally guided by Mussolini but controlled by the N**i Armed Forces.
September 9, 1943 CLN (national liberation committee) is formed, that is an organization born to fight with the Allies against the German Invasion. Alongside this official group, illegal immigrants join the fight, and every people that was hiding in the mountains or other remote areas. This was the life of the Partisans, forced to live in the shadows. In the Occupied territories, Partisans are considered criminals, and the regime instigates citizens to snitch against them. The partisans begin to plan sabotage and ambushes against the N**i-fascists, they organize popular uprisings and damage the enemy's communication routes. Their help was crucial to help the allies. Partisans are often spoken of only as men and boys, but women are also a very important part of the resistance. An example above all, Nilde Iotti. During the occupation Nilde was a courier, one of the most important tasks. In practice, the relays took care of the connections between the various formations involved in the armed struggle, allowing the transmission of orders, information, and the delivery of goods, medicines, weapons and ammunition.
But how many partisans were there? The number most accredited by historiography is around 250 thousand fighters, 35 thousand women. Around 44 thousand died during their fight, while over 21 thousand was mutilated or disabled. Around 4 thousand woman incarcerated and tortured and over 2.750 of them deported in concentration camps. Same amount more or less was killed during the fight.
Spring 1945. The allies break through the Gothic Line, defensive line built in central northern Italy.
April 25, 1945: The resistance unleashes a national uprising against the Germans and Mussolini tries to escape to Switzerland but he is cough by the Partisans and killed. During this 30 crucial months men and women from various political parties came together to fight a common enemy together. The Italian Resistance is completely different than any other in the rest of Europe because born from below, from the people, from the civil struggle, for example the four days of Naples, the first city in Europe to have liberated itself, without help. Ordinary people who use a weapon for the first time and fight, risking the death of others.
The Italian resistance gave democracy back to the people. How many of you today could do the same?
