The volumes in question, extensively illustrated and amounting to approximately 700 pages, aim to offer a first, but in-depth, overview of the activities and profiles of the members of the police force who between 1943 and 1945 sided against the Nazis and Fascists and collaborated with the Resistance, helping among other things in many ways also the Jews in danger, a subject that had never been treated exhaustively before and on which until now there had been only very few dedicated studies.
Due to its density, this material has been divided into two volumes, one dedicated to the policemen who opposed the Nazi-Fascists and the other to those who helped the Jews, also the result of the study and research activities that have been carried out for several years within the PS Department, aimed, among other things, at the investigation for the affixing throughout Italy to policemen who were victims of the Nazis of the “Stumbling Stones” (Stolpersteine) by the artist Gunter Demnig.
From the planning stage, the two volumes were designed to have the widest possible involvement of eminent scholars and experts on the Resistance, the German occupation in Italy, the racial laws and the Italian Shoah, and the broad involvement of the ANPI, the network of historical institutes of the Resistance, and the Jewish world. However, there is no lack of essays produced by personnel belonging to the Department of PS of the Ministry of the Interior or of the ANPS sections, as well as the contribution of relatives and witnesses still alive of the events in question, in particular with regard to the events of rescue of Jews in danger (see for example the contributions of Ermanno Smulevich and Valentina Supino, a child at the time of the events, whose families were helped in a fundamental way by more than one policeman).
The volumes boast introductions by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the Chief of Police Vittorio Pisani, Rav Riccardo Di Segni, Chief Rabbi of Rome, Senator for Life Liliana Segre, and Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop Santo Marcianò, Prof. Nicola Labanca, the National President of ANPI Gianfranco Pagliarulo, Prof. Antonio Parisella, former President of the Museum of Liberation in via Tasso,
As for the content of the two books, from a quick glance at the Summaries it can be seen that these are large and diversified volumes, which represent not only a vast geographical area, covering Police Headquarters and situations throughout Italy (from the Naples of the heroic “Four Days”, to the Police Headquarters on the border with Switzerland, to Open City Rome and so on), but also many thematic areas.
In this regard, in the volume dedicated to the policemen who opposed the Nazi-fascists, the organization of the police and occupation forces in the period in question, the German occupation, the activity of the policemen in contact with the clandestine networks of Allied intelligence and with the ecclesiastical relief networks, the "martyr" policemen who paid with their lives for their clandestine activity in favor of the Resistance throughout Italy, killed at the Fosse Ardeatine (Maurizio Giglio and Pietro Ermelindo Lungaro), shot at Forte Bravetta (Giovanni Lupis and Emilio Scaglia) or massacred elsewhere, for example in Tuscany the members of the Livorno Police Headquarters arrested at the moment they were going over to the partisan formations with weapons and means.
It illustrates, among other things, the glorious events of the Neapolitan insurrection of the Four Days and the contribution of the Resistance in Piedmont, Lombardy, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Rome and so on. It also briefly talks about the Military Internees of the Police, about whom practically nothing was known until now. The volume then closes with the long list of policemen massacred by the Nazi-Fascists, also unpublished.
In the volume dedicated to the policemen who helped the Jews, after a necessary overview of the racial laws and the condition of the Jews, for example in Rome, the profiles of the four policemen recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem (Giovanni Palatucci, Angelo De Fiore, Mario Canessa, Mario De Nardis) are illustrated, as well as the others who did everything they could, not only in southern France occupied by the Italians, but also opposed in every way the German attempts to deport the numerous Jews who had taken refuge in these areas at the Police Headquarters in Fiume, Trieste, Verona, Parma, Modena, Florence, Perugia, Rome and so on.
They also illustrate the regulations and events of some internment camps under the control of the Ministry of the Interior, in particular that of Fossoli and that of Campagna, where Giovanni Palatucci's uncle, the bishop, lived. Finally, some testimonies of victims of the Italian Shoah are given voice, in particular in an intense interview with Edit Bruck.
The various essays present a wealth of new data and facts, opening completely new and sometimes surprising glimpses into the behavior of many members of the RSI Police regarding the Resistance and the rescue of the Jews. A police force that was not at all a collaborator with the Nazi-Fascist authorities as believed until now, and indeed paid a heavy contribution of blood to the cause of liberation and national redemption, an element that is also underlined in the various prefaces.
In summary, two volumes that illustrate completely unpublished events and that shed light on the many policemen who were arrested, tortured, died, or risked dying in Nazi-Fascist prisons and Nazi concentration camps "by making the right choice".
Article published on 13 February 2025 - 20:31
