Lectures / 05/03/2009 6:00 pm

Film and Discussion of the Italian civil war in 1943-45

When Italy surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, the Wehrmacht occupied large parts of the country. This triggered not only a two-year guerilla war against the German troops but also a bitter civil war between anti-fascist forces and supporters of Mussolini’s Republic of Salò. After 1945, the Resistenza as struggle for national liberation emerged as the central element of the Italian people’s conception of self, while the entire society spread a cloak of silence over the fact that there were Italians on both sides of this fight. In light of the fact that a fundamental consensus doesn’t even exist as far as an assessment of fascism per se is concerned, the civil war remains a taboo to this day. One of the few attempts to violate it has been Vittorio Taviani’s 1982 film “La Notte di San Lorenzo” (The Night of San Lorenzo). A public screening of this film will be followed by a discussion of it with Italian historians and intellectuals.

film presentation: "Partigiano Johnny" (italian with english subtitles)

afterwards: viewers discussion