Partisan Diary: A Woman's Life in the Italian Resistance
Ada Gobetti
Language: English
Pages: 384
ISBN: 0199380546
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Ada Gobetti's Partisan Diary is both diary and memoir. From the German entry into Turin on 10 September 1943 to the liberation of the city on 28 April 1945, Gobetti recorded an almost daily account of events, sentiments, and personalities, in a cryptic English only she could understand. Italian senator and philosopher Benedetto Croce encouraged Ada to convert her notes into a book. Published by the Italian publisher Giulio Einaudi in 1956, it won the Premio Prato, an annual prize for a work inspired by the Italian Resistance (Resistenza). From a political and military point of view, the Partisan Diary provides firsthand knowledge of how the partisans in Piedmont fought, what obstacles they encountered, and who joined the struggle against the Nazis and the Fascists. The mountainous terrain and long winters of the Alpine regions (the site of many of their battles) and the ever-present threat of reprisals by German occupiers and their fascist partners exacerbated problems of organization among the various partisan groups. So arduous was their fight, that key military events--Italy's declaration of war on Germany, the fall of Rome, and the Allied landings on D-Day --appear in the diary as remote and almost unrelated incidents. Ada Gobetti writes of the heartbreak of mothers who lost their sons or watched them leave on dangerous missions of sabotage, relating it to worries about her own son Paolo. She reflects on the relationship between anti-fascist thought of the 1920s, in particular the ideas of her husband, Piero Gobetti, and the Italian resistance movement (Resistenza) in which she and her son were participating. While the Resistenza represented a culmination of more than twenty years of anti-fascist activity for Ada, it also helped illuminate the exceptional talents, needs, and rights of Italian women, more than one hundred thousand of whom participated.
Fodor's Venice and Northern Italy
Of the town.13 And this evening I did so. He agreed to assemble the young men and organize them. Finally, there are some foundations. 13 Agostino Roglio was a teacher and organizer of the first partisan bands in Meana. 13 S e p t e m b e r –16 N o v e m b e r 19 4 3 33 13 October. Italy declared war on Germany. Now we are cobelligerents with the Allies. But the news did not make any impression on me. For us there is no difference. Perhaps it will have some importance for those who are.
Activities. If we need it, she will give us a cart for transporting weapons. 5 November. I went to Giorgio Agosti’s courtroom. The coolness with which this young judge does the most dangerous things is extraordinary. His office is frequented pretty much like my house, and I think that it would be an excellent storehouse for newspapers and perhaps for weapons as well. He has a sense of level-headedness that gives me a feeling of security. We can count on him for small matters as well as important.
The station and for a stretch of the path. When we were almost outside the town, we approached him and Gianni, who had already met him, asked him about Paolo. “I do not know,” Don Foglia responded, shaking his head. “He must have remained with those good-for-nothings who preferred to stay in Frais instead of going down to carry out the strike.” I clutched at Ettore and felt like I was going to go out of my mind. Either I did not know my son, or Paolo could not have stayed in Frais. If he had not.
Reference point for partisans and as a place to hide weapons. With her language skills, she acted as an interpreter between English officers and partisan commanders. She found places to deposit clandestine newspapers. She investigated arrests. She wrote of posting Cln flyers in Meana to warn young men born in 1925 not to present themselves for the draft. Sometimes Ada acted as a liaison between leaders of the various partisan formations. Her position of responsibility is evident in the personal.
Toward the house from the side on Via Assarotti. According to our agreement, the good lawyer Cattaneo had exposed the canary cage, but in the garden, which was flooded with scorching sunlight, there was no one else. Even if I admitted they were still watching, certainly at that hour the policemen had gone inside to rest. When she saw me, Espedita raised her arms to the sky, protesting, but I reassured her. I would only stay for 9 Mario Marchesini, an engineer, was Ettore’s brother. 5 J u l y.