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ALESSANDRO PORTELLI

22 NOVEMBRE 2013

Le Fosse Ardeatine raccontate in India

Deccan Herald(Bangalore) 9.11.2013 Through the history of Rome Nov
9, 2013, DHNS History lovers were in for a treat at a lecture and
interactive session by Italian scholar and oral historian Alessandro
Portelli, titled ‘Event and Memory’, at the National Gallery of Modern
Art (NGMA) recently. The event was organised by NGMA, along with L I N K E C O N TAT T I

the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in collaboration with the Chi è Alessandro Portelli
Centre for Public History. On his first visit to the City, Alessandro Una proposta di lavoro culturale
Portelli spoke about the 1944 incident, where Nazi occupying forces in
Scrivi ad Alessandro Portelli
Rome executed 335 men as a retaliation for a partisan attack.
Discussing the history of the massacre, its symbolic significance to the
historical image of Rome and relating it to the anti-fascist foundation DOWNLOAD
of the Italian democracy, Alessandro Portelli raised the controversies
Lezioni di storia: i giorni di Roma - 24
involved and the myths that surround the memory of the event. “I’m marzo 1944: Le Fosse Ardeatine
using a specific Roman incident to raise questions mainly on how
Lezioni di storia: Sulla scena di Roma:
public memory works. I am hoping that through the comments and
Il bombardamento di San Lorenzo
question-and-answer round, this session will turn into a learning
experience for me,” said the oral historian, adding, “I don’t know much
about India or more like, not enough that I can talk about.” He added, POST RECENTI
“Im trying to find my way around the City since it’s my first time here.
Tutto il giorno di ieri sui media
But I have found that people here are showing a lot of interest in my
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work.” Speaking during the event, Alessandro Portelli pointed out that
Nel 1950, nel libro La folla solitaria,
the ‘cold-blooded massacre’ is a highly symbolic event. “Having taken
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place in Rome, which houses the head of the Catholic Church, it was
Bruce Springtsteen: Born to Run,
bound to have a greater resonance than if it had taken place in a
l'autobiografia
smaller place. The massacre has a long history and is highly symbolic,”
La scheda, il fucile e Dallas
he said. Indira Chowdhury, director of Centre for Public History said,
ILouisiana, Minnesota: il delirio
“It’s taken a while to organise this event. But we felt that there would
dell'onnipotenza
be many who would benefit by listening to this lecture.” The packed
https://www.youtube.com
auditorium listened in rapt attention. “My keen interest in history is
/watch?v=KwYE2d0h170: semik...
what brings me here. I am an avid reader and am paticularly fond of
L'Europa del genocidio respinge i
non-fiction. It will be interesting to hear different perspectives. But it’s
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not often that I get to attend a lecture of this kind,” said Prashanth, a
Joe Hill: 1915-2015
member of the audience. Many who made their way to the lecture after
work were hoping that it would be worth the effort. “I want to "Adua" di Igiaba Scego - il manifesto
understand the history of Rome of which I don’t have much of an idea. 15.12.2015
This is a great opportunity for me to do the same,” said Arun, another Link a una pr esentazione del mio
member of the audience. History student Sowmya, who enjoyed the libro su Bruce S...
experience, shared, “I didn’t know what to expect when I came in. But
it was really interesting and that just shows in the sheer number of
ARCHIVIO
people who are here.” The Hindu November 14, 2013 The right to
remember SRAVASTI DATTA TALK Alessandro Portelli’s talk on The maggio 2006
Fosse Ardeatine Massacre brought to light the role of memory in luglio 2006
shaping a narrative Differs in the tellingAnd in reminiscence, according settembre 2006
to Alessandrophoto: sampath kumar g.p. Our understanding of the past ottobre 2006
is often coloured by how we choose to remember it. This was reflected
novembre 2006
in a recent talk Event and Memory: The Fosse Ardeatine Massacre held
dicembre 2006
at National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) by the Centre for Public
gennaio 2007
History of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. Renowned
febbraio 2007
oral historian, writer and musicologist, Alessandro Portelli spoke about
his book The Order Has Been Carried Out , which explores the Fosse marzo 2007

Ardeatine Massacre. On March 24, 1944, 335 men were killed by Nazis aprile 2007
in Rome. “The attack was supposedly in retaliation for a Partisan maggio 2007
attack, an attack that the Italian liberalisers had waged against the settembre 2007
Nazis,” says Alessandro. “Rome became the head quarters for the Nazis ottobre 2007
fighting in the front. As soon as the Nazis occupied the city, an novembre 2007
underground liberation movement began. It was an entirely voluntary dicembre 2007
movement and all the political anti-fascist organisations joined them. It
gennaio 2008
was a hard time for the people in Rome. They had to survive hunger
febbraio 2008
and air raids, which killed thousands of people. To affirm that Rome
marzo 2008
was not entirely under the Nazis, the partisans began to attack the
aprile 2008
Nazis in different parts of the town.” On March 23, 1944, a group of
Partisans attacked a group of Nazi soldiers attached to the SS. “It was maggio 2008

an event that seemed to show that the Nazis did not control the city, settembre 2008
that they were not invulnerable. And, therefore, it became immediately novembre 2008
necessary for the Nazis to terrorise the city.” Significant The massacre dicembre 2008
became symbolic for a number of reasons. “The first was the location of gennaio 2009
the massacre. Rome is not just any place. It is a highly symbolic city. In febbraio 2009
fact, throughout WWII, in Europe, this was the only major cold marzo 2009
blooded massacre that took place in a big city. This wasn’t the worst
aprile 2009
massacre in the history of Germany-occupied Italy. There have been
maggio 2009
others in which more people were killed by the air raids of the Allies.
giugno 2009
Most Nazi massacres took place in rural places. In most other mass
luglio 2009
killings, the social composition of the victims was relatively
homogenous as the population of a rural village or a small town is. In settembre 2009
Rome, what you had was a cross-section of the population of the big ottobre 2009
city.” The stories Alessandro has chronicled in his book are of the novembre 2009
people who were involved in the event. “The victims were all men, dicembre 2009
which means the story of the survivors were mainly memories of gennaio 2010
women.” And it was in speaking to and understanding the stories of marzo 2010
those who were directly affected by the massacre, that Alessandro
aprile 2010
realised that oral history goes beyond what society considers “relevant”
to be recorded. Alessandro says the massacre was a complicated maggio 2010
process. “It was very well organised. They drew up lists, they had giugno 2010
logistics. “Often in the commemoration of the event, people talk about ottobre 2010
it as a ‘barbarous, savage massacre’, I think this is a serious mistake. novembre 2010
This was a highly civilised massacre. It could not have been performed
dicembre 2010
unless you had all of state and bureaucracy working to make it possible.
gennaio 2011
It is important to understand that if we say it was a barbarous
febbraio 2011
massacre, we are saying we have had nothing to do with it, we’re
marzo 2011
civilised. It was our civilisation that made Auschwitz possible; it could
not have been done without chemical industries, without the modern aprile 2011

state. “That raises the meaning of the event in terms of our heritage, maggio 2011
our civilisation.” However, what makes this event especially giugno 2011
controversial is the way it’s been remembered, says Alessandro. “The agosto 2011
anti-Partisan narrative goes like this: the Partisans attacked those poor settembre 2011
German soldiers and they killed them and then the Nazis posted bills marzo 2012
all over the city saying unless the perpetrators turn themselves in, we aprile 2012
shall have to kill 10 people for every German killed, so that in the end
luglio 2012
the blame falls on the Partisans, who are guilty of not turning
novembre 2012
themselves in and therefore, forcing the poor Germans to kill 335
dicembre 2012
people. “So who do we blame? We do not blame the Nazis because they
febbraio 2013
did what they had to do. But we blame the Partisans for attacking the
Nazis and for allowing them to be killed.” Alessandro says what actually aprile 2013

occurred is different from what is remembered of the event. “The Nazis maggio 2013
didn’t post any bills and didn’t look for Partisans. The massacre took giugno 2013
place less than 24 hours after the Partisan attack. So it’s clearly a false luglio 2013
narrative. However, it has taken roots in public imagination due to a agosto 2013
number of reasons.” SRAVASTI DATTA ottobre 2013
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