Remembering fascism and empire : the public representation and myth of Rodolfo Graziani in 20th-century Italy

Abstract

My PhD has utilised the cultural representation of Italy’s most popular military figure from the Fascist period to account for the myth-making and warped remembrance of Rodolfo Graziani in Modern-day Italy. By proving himself to Mussolini with his brutal tactics, namely, mass hangings, the erection of concentration camps, and utilisation of poison gas during the Italian ‘pacification’ of Libya in the 1920’s and the Fascist conquest of Ethiopia in 1936, my project highlights that Graziani was chosen by the Fascist government to be a national imperial war hero. Facilitated by the dawn of totalitarianism and mass consumption, the propaganda campaign to promote the Fascist Empire utilised Graziani as a modern-day celebrity, through many mediums, which became the source base for my research. Images of Graziani filtered back to Italy in the 1930s through postcards, books, magazines, film, radio, busts and the like. During the Second World War, collaboration with the Nazis under the Salò Republic led to his trial in 1948, but his colonial crimes remained unquestioned, testament to the effect of heroisation for his previous colonial career. Since then, this manipulation of historical consciousness has continued to pervade Italian society as the state searched for a collective ‘usable’ past from the remnants of the Fascist dictatorship. As Mussolini’s most popular enterprise, colonial ambition remained a shared goal across the political spectrum in the immediate post-war period. By countering national insecurities through the utilisation of male symbols, men like Graziani provided an opportunity to promote such ideals through untainted virtues of masculinity. Institutionally therefore, the role of individuals in bringing ‘civilisation’ to its African colonies continued to be revered in post-fascist and post-colonial Italy. Moreover, most recently, a regionally funded monument that was built in Graziani’s honour near Rome in 2012 only led to public outcry abroad and from interested national parties with almost no negative response from the Italian public. Graziani’s memory thus remains a fervent, multifaceted one and signifies tension in popular attitudes to Italy fascist and colonial history. It is with this timely and noteworthy case-study that I aim to shed light on the persistently neglected darker aspects of Italy’s recent past.