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War, Resistance, and Memorialization in Tuscany, 1943-1945

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Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2011 Heroes or Terrorists? War, Resistance, and Memorialization in Tuscany, 1943-1945 Lynda Lamarre Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Lamarre, Lynda, "Heroes or Terrorists? War, Resistance, and Memorialization in Tuscany, 1943-1945" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 596. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/596 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HEROES OR TERRORISTS? WAR, RESISTANCE, AND MEMORIALIZATION IN TUSCANY, 1943-1945 by LYNDA LAMARRE (Under the Direction of Charles S. Thomas) ABSTRACT This thesis will delve into the unfolding of the Italian Resistance, from an underground association to a militant organization, which aided and facilitated the Allied advance to northern Italy. Particular emphasis will be placed on the actions and consequences of the Resistance in rural Tuscany and their affect on the local population. It will examine the changing views of Italian society, from the immediate post-war era and the decades that followed, with a brief examination of the cinematographic influences on the social views. It will include the debate over who deserves a commemorative monument and the divided and changed memory regarding the Resistance. Finally, the author will examine the current debate over the most appropriate way to memorialize the complicated and tumultuous struggle to free Italy over sixty years ago. INDEX WORDS: Partisans, Italian resistance, Fascism, Tuscany, World War II, Massacres, Retaliations, Memorializations. 1 HEROES OR TERRORISTS? WAR, RESISTANCE, AND MEMORIALIZATION IN TUSCANY, 1943-1945 by LYNDA LAMARRE B.A., Augusta State University, 2007 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2011 2 © LYNDA LAMARRE All Rights Reserved 3 HEROES OR TERRORISTS? WAR, RESISTANCE, AND MEMORIALIZATION IN TUSCANY, 1943-1945 by LYNDA LAMARRE Major Professor: Charles S. Thomas Committee: Kathleen Comerford John W. Steinberg Electronic Version Approved: May 2011 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................6 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................7 LIST OF MAPS ...................................................................................................................8 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................12 CHAPTER 1 TURMOIL AND CONFUSION IN ITALY...................................................................17 Brief history of events leading to Fascism and the rise of Mussolini ................17 The mismanagement of war ...............................................................................24 The forty-five days that changed everything (25 July to 8 September 1943) ....32 The Italian military collapse in September 1943 ................................................38 2 COMPONENTS OF THE RESISTANCE .....................................................................45 Politically motivated: Communists and left-wingers - backbone of the resistance movement? ..........................................................................................................45 Common people doing the decent thing: locals, women, and clergy. ................50 The escaped POWs .............................................................................................52 Youth also swelled the ranks of the partisans. ...................................................55 The resistance organizes .....................................................................................56 3 RESISTANCE IN TUSCANY .......................................................................................60 One man's story: Aroldo Salvadori.....................................................................64 4 RESISTANCE AND REPRISALS: THE BLOODY SUMMER OF 1944 IN TUSCANY ............................................................................................................................................74 German retaliations for acts of defiance .............................................................76 Atrocities in Tuscany ..........................................................................................78 Florence, the political turning point ...................................................................85 Paradoxes .............................................................................................................87 5 5 MEMORIALIZATION...................................................................................................90 Memory changed over time .................................................................................90 Divided memory ..................................................................................................96 The monuments ...............................................................................................100 The media .........................................................................................................106 CONCLUSION: HOW IT WAS AND HOW IT IS ........................................................111 WORKS CITED ..............................................................................................................118 6 ABBREVIATIONS ANPI Associazione Nazionale Partigiani Italiani CLN Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale CTLN Comitato Toscano di Liberazione Nazionale DC Democrazia Cristiana GAP Gruppi di Azione Patriottica MSI Movimento Sociale Italiano OSS Office of Strategic Services PCI Partito Comunista Italiano PDA Partito d‘Azione RSI Repubblica Sociale Italiana SIM Servizio Informazioni Militari SOE Special Operations Executive 7 GLOSSARY Associazione Nazionale Partigiani Italiani. Italian National Association of Partisans. Attendisti. Those who wait. Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale. Committee for National Liberation. Comitato Toscano di Liberazione Nazionale. Tuscan Committee for National Liberation. Democrazia Cristiana. Christian Democrat Party. Duce. Leader. Gruppi di Azione Patriottica. Groups of Patriotic Action. Movimento Sociale Italiano. Italian Socialist Movement – the post-war neo-Fascist Party. Padrone. Master. Partito Comunista Italiano. Italian Communist Party. Partito d’Azione. Action Party. Rastrellamento. Raking. The search for eligible men for conscription. Repubblica di Saló. Saló Republic. Other name for the Italian Social Republic, the puppet government set up by Hitler with Mussolini as figure-head, with its capital in the town of Saló, Northern Italy. Repubblica Sociale Italiana. Italian Social Republic. Risorgimento. Resurgence. The 19th-century movement for Italian unification that culminated in the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Ronda. Military patrol. Servizio Informazioni Militari. Service of Military Information. 8 MAPS 1. Map of Italy with two major German defensive lines and Italian cities of interest…..9 2. Map of Tuscany with location of Partisan bands and areas of massacres……………10 3. Topographic map of Tuscany…………………………………………………..……..11 9 Map 1 Map of Italy with two major German defensive lines and Italian cities of interest. 10 Map 2 Map of Tuscany with locations of Partisan bands and areas of massacres. 11 Map 3 Topographic map of Tuscany. INTRODUCTION Is the Italian Partisan in the Second World War a hero or a terrorist? Until a few years ago the question would not have been debated. Most agreed that the Partisan was a hero fighting to free his country of the brutal invader who, through the use of terror, had transformed his independent people into quasi-slaves with no say in their government, lives, or personal behavior. It was during the summer of 2007, at a café in Marina di Pisa that a group of local patrons carried out a heated debate regarding a pending commemoration of the Resistance movement. The debate was over which Partisan group truly deserved to be recognized for an act of sabotage in the city of Pisa. The discussion was passionate, as is typical of any Italian political or sports debate, and while the volume continued to escalate and men continued to promote which group they believed to be the true heroes, an old gentleman mumbled, ―Heroes, what heroes? They were terrorists, all of them. They were no better than the terrorists of 9-11. All cowards!‖ His comments sparked questions about the reason for his resentment. His response was that the Partisans had brought more suffering to his town than the Fascists or Germans ever did. According to his account, the Partisans stole from the locals, brought trouble to the town that had previously been ignored by the Germans, and after committing petty crimes against the locals and the Germans, ran away to the hills and safety, leaving the local civilian population to deal with the repercussions. They did not act honorably but
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