Resistenza e identità nazionale: tra ricerca storica e guerra della memoria

During the last fifteen years, the debate about the identity and the roots of the Italian Republic has been very strong. The fall of Fascism, the meaning of the September, 8th, 1943, events, the contents and consequences of the “Resistenza” have been some of the most discussed subjects. This article surveys the contribution that four recent books offer to the development of historiographical debate on “Resi¬stenza” and to the knowledge of the political use of this matters in sixty years of Re¬pu¬blican history. An evolution of the historical research emerges analysing these works, especially the enlargement of the concept of “Resistenza” beyond the borders of the armed struggle and beyond the events of the antifascist political parties: the study of not-armed “Resistenza”, of deportation, of military internment, of the relations with civil society, represents basic passages to set out a deeper historical examination of postwar Italy (from the building of the memory of “Resistenza” to its difficulties to become the widely shared foundation of the Republic identity) in the context of international political events, since the Cold War to the end of Soviet Union.

Mario Toscano, Resistenza e identità nazionale: tra ricerca storica e guerra della memoria in "MONDO CONTEMPORANEO" 2/2006, pp , DOI: