Het wespennest

Herinneringscultuur en de Tweede Wereldoorlog in de Romeinse wijk Quadraro

Samenvatting

The Italian memory of the Second World War has been the source of constant controversy in national politics ever since the immediate aftermath of the war. In the first decades after the war, the Italian memory was centralised around the Resistance, which served as a symbol for the national identity. However, the political climate of the 1990s brought about a complete shift in the national memory culture. The Italian memory was henceforth characterized by the ‘anti-antifascist paradigm’, within which partisans were remembered as a small, violent minority. This national discourse does not seem to be all encompassing, however. It is notably absent from the local memory culture in the Roman neighbourhood of Quadraro. In fact, a completely different discourse can be found: the local resistance is proudly remembered as a powerful local phenomenon.