Fascism feeds on symbols. A place, a historical event, an anniversary are enough to attract thousands of militants. Some are merely nostalgic. Others are thugs in permanent active service, in football stadiums’ stands and in active groups everywhere on the territory, from cities to small towns in Italian provinces. As happened on the evening of January 7th with the fascists’ gathering in Rome. As happens in municipal councils, where extremist parties have been elected. However, there is a place that encompasses all the symbols of the fascist ideology that still feeds on hatred and racism today, and that, by allying with Nazism, led the world into the tragedy of World War II. It is the birthplace of Benito Mussolini in Predappio, in the Northern Italian province of Forlì.
With violence reemerging everywhere, as our map shows, perhaps it’s time to stop and reflect. And to choose a location that becomes the memorial to commemorate all victims of political hatred in Italy. From the martyrs of Benito Mussolini’s regime to the murders of the civil war. From the thousands of Italian Jews who never returned from extermination camps to the women and children slaughtered in reprisals. Up to the recent victims of terrorism, that bloodied the Italian Cold War. A place that collects names, photographs, small objects of daily life. And that remembers who the victims are. That place can be the birthplace of Benito Mussolini, to be entrusted to foundations and associations capable of guiding the project. If you agree with our petition, send your first and last name by email to fabrizio.gatti@citynews.it and, please, share this article with your friends.
Austria has prevented the building where Adolf Hitler was born from becoming a pilgrimage site by converting it into a police station. In Predappio, the birthplace of Il Duce, on the other hand, has been transformed into a museum where, albeit not openly, the Fascist Ventennio has been commemorated for some years: with exhibitions and historical events that continue to attract sympathizers from all over Italy. To this, every July 29th (birth), October 27th (March on Rome) and April 28th (execution) Italian neo-fascists rally in honor of Mussolini.
Just take a look at the social media page “Casa Natale Mussolini” to get a sense of the tone of the commemorations sponsored by the Municipality, the owner of the building. These are certainly exhibitions of historical significance if set up in any other museum. But in Mussolini’s house, they take on a strong celebratory and hagiographic value.
Here are some titles published in the posts of the organizers: ‘When Predappio Took Flight: Who Flies, Matters and Wins’; ‘The Mussolini’s Town: Luigi, Alessandro, and Benito’; ‘Badoglio Telegraphs… The African Dream of the Empire’; ‘Primary School in the Fascist Era’; ‘The Battle of Wheat and Autarky’; ‘The Young Mussolini’; ‘Propaganda Comics in Italy from the Origins to 1945’, with copies of Peperino in Abyssinia, Il Balilla, La Piccola Italiana. Even when the exhibition is dedicated to Dante Alighieri, ‘The Most Italian of Poets’, the famous lines of his face on the poster confront those of Benito Mussolini, depicted in the ‘Continuous Profile’ by the Futurist sculptor Renato Bertelli. In the photo below, a fascist rally in Rome on January 7, 2024 (by LaPresse).
Never, in recent years, has there been a mention of the crimes: from Teresa Galli, the Milanese shirtmaker, the first victim in 1919 of fascist violence, to Giacomo Matteotti, the socialist secretary killed in Rome a hundred years ago on June 10th by the squad of fascists who had kidnapped him. Not a word for all the anti-fascists massacred before and after the March on Rome. And for the thousands of Jews abandoned to the Nazi extermination. Seen from Predappio, fascism seems only an epic of dreamers, aviators, artists, successful industrialists, and urban planners. For this reason, the birthplace of Benito Mussolini should be the memorial dedicated to the victims of political hatred. If you agree with our petition, please, send your first and last name to fabrizio.gatti@citynews.it (Italian Edition here).
Please, sign here otherwise send an email to fabrizio.gatti@citynews.it
Fabrizio Gatti, Stefano Bises, Fabio Repici, Domenico Tambasco, Daniele Cassamagnaghi, Alberto Sgreva, Nadia Cavalleri, Barbara Leonardi, Gianluca De Crignis, Paola Di Mauro, Stefania Andreoni, Mariella Dalmanzio,
Fonte : Today
