That November 20, 1945 open to Nuremberg the first of several studies in which i crime committed by Nazi leader during the Second World War and the abomination of holocaust. The decision to celebrate the exams was made by conditions United, Great Britain and Russia. The Palace of Justice of the city that was the cradle of NSDAP he was born in Third Reich For the occasion, it was restructured to expand that media coverageboth with a plane for the public with either a press room and they were added equipments for the translation simultaneously received correspondents from 23 different countries For a total of 325 in between newspapers, radio and news agencies.
The Nuremberg trials are made public for the first time thousands of documents which testified to the cruelty of the crimes of National Socialism, although much had been destroyed in the meantime bombing and deliberate cover-up initiatives decreed by the regime Adolf Hitler. Not only the paper documents were shown, but also the pictures taken and created by them photographers and cameramen of Nazi Germany. The Nuremberg Trials together with the processes in Tokyowas an important moment of hiring responsibility and distancing of the crimes of dictatorial regimes. It was a moment symbolic and crucial for contemporaries, but also – so it was thought – for posterity, thanks to the large collection work and the documentary accessibility. in the Italy nothing like this has ever happened. Where from? Ilfattoquotidiano.it spoke to the historian about it Eric Gobetti.
Gobetti, what does this absence of the relationship between past and present in Italy tell us?
It is in itself an anomaly that in Italy, unlike the Germany he was born in Japan, there hasn’t been no war crimes trials and the regime. This emptiness speaks to us of a different approach to the past, especially when we consider the symbolism of such a passage. In fact, the significance of the Nuremberg Trials should not be considered so much in terms of the conviction itself as to determine who and how many are responsible. Rather, the relevance of the process lies in its own psychosocial effect is in that political value such an awareness of one’s own more or less recent past. In fact, Italians are often unaware of the complexity of their own historical genealogy.
also read
ARCHIVE/7. SEPTEMBER | Arbe, the fascist camp in Croatia erased from memory. “Why forget? The myth of the Italian do-gooders had to be confirmed”
What impact did this lack have on the construction of national identity?
The lack of rootedness of the transition from the fascist regime to the republic In a symbolic moment and openly opposed to the regime itself, she paved the way for various forms of political continuity – but also institutional – of fascism. Many fascist laws remained in force for a long time, many fascist employees “reinvented” themselves in the republican institutions. In addition, and with a very long-lasting effect, the does not judge of the many crimes committed by the fascists caused it Oblivion and conviction of innocence. In Italy, school books never mention gods fascist concentration camps, for example. From the massacres, like that of PodhunNeighbor Flow. All of this reinforced this notion of “Italian good people‘ which is part of national identity, the widespread common idea of total irresponsibility towards one’s past. This applies to fascist crimes, but also to much more, including the colonial past. Another myth is that of race laws go out Mussolini as the “Italian answer” to the Nazis. In reality, these laws were the result of a process by white racist legislation in the Italian colonies.
also read
ARCHIVE/2018 | Race laws, so Mussolini ruled that Jews had no rights. Here are all the bans that forestalled the deportations
How do these dynamics affect current political discourse?
Not taking responsibility has easily led to this belittlement of the past and their legacies, and this is particularly evident in the political discourse of the right. At the same time, if we think of a way of reconstructing historical memory, it is equally important to maintain its complexity and not to trivialize phenomena like the Holocaust on the paradigm of the victim. In this era there is a widespread tendency to view the past more in terms of victimhood political ideals leading to open conflicts. For decades we have referred to World War II, celebrating its respective “martyrs” and the ideals they fought for, including the interpretation of violence in that argument. Today, on the other hand, there is a tendency to refer to groups or individuals who are presented exclusively as victims, without talking about the historical context in which the conflicts erupted and about the opposing ideas and political projects. At a time when the collective political ideal has largely been supplanted by individualism, and consensus is often built behind the mask of victimhood, moving out of history and simply using what is taken for granted as a political tool is undoubtedly an easier transition than Victims are never responsible.
***
In the photo above | The Nazi hierarchs at the stand of the first Nuremberg trials.
In the first row, from left: Vice Chancellor Hermann Goering, number 3 of the NSDAP Rudolf Hessthe foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and the Chief of the Armed Forces William Keitel. In the second row from the left: the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Karl Donitzthe chief of the naval command Eric WheelsReich Lieutenant in Vienna Baldur of Schirach and the “authorized representative for the distribution of work” Fritz Sauckel.
The picture was taken by a US Army photographer.