Italiani brava gente

"Italians, decent people" (Italian: Italiani brava gente) is a phrase coined by historians to refer to popular beliefs in Italy about the participation of the Royal Italian Army in World War II and the Holocaust. A form of historical revisionism which emerged under the post-war republic, it was argued that Italian soldiers had been "decent people" (brava gente) who had acted with humanity and compassion in contrast to their ideologically motivated and brutal German allies. In particular, it argued that the Italians had not participated in the Nazi persecution of Jews in occupied parts of Eastern Europe.[1][2] By extension, the term is sometimes applied to describe popular beliefs about the Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–6) or Italian responses to the persecution of Italian Jews.

For the 1964 Italian film of the same name, see Attack and Retreat.

Notable examples of the phenomenon in popular culture are the film Mediterraneo (1991) directed by Gabriele Salvatores and novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin (1994) by Louis de Bernières which was also adapted into a film in 2004.[1] The myth avoided "a public debate on collective responsibility, guilt and denial, repentance and pardon" but has recently been challenged by historians.[1] The myth parallels the popular beliefs about the "Clean Wehrmacht" popular in post-war West Germany or the victim theory in post-war Austria.

References
  1. Petrusewicz, Marta (2004). "The hidden pages of contemporary Italian history: war crimes, war guilt and collective memory". Journal of Modern Italian Studies. 9 (3): 269–70.
  2. Rodogno, Davide (2005). "Italiani brava gente? Fascist Italy's Policy Toward the Jews in the Balkans, April 1941–July 1943". European History Quarterly. 35 (2): 213–40.

Further reading
  • Focardi, Filippo; Klinkhammer, Lutz (2004). "The Question of Fascist Italy's War Crimes: The Construction of a Self-Acquitting Myth, 1943-1948". Journal of Modern Italian Studies. 9 (3): 330–48.
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