Atlas of Nazi and fascist violence in Italy presented

(AGI) Rome, Apr. 6 - Italy and Germany have come together to present an atlas of Nazi and fascist killings in Italy during WWII. The "Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy over the 1943-1945 period" was officially introduced at the Farnesina by the Director General for the EU for the Foreign Ministry, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi, together with the German ambassador to Italy, Susanne Marianne Wasum-Rainer. The project has aimed to build a common memory, using a detailed map of the violence committed in the past. Through a virtual space, people are confronted with the past to help avoid a return of nationalistic and destructive ideologies. The project is the result of an agreement between Rome and Berlin, and was carried out by the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI) and the National Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement in Italy (INSMLI), with funding from the German Foreign Ministry. It is an important project to reveal Italy's painful past, said Buccino Grimaldi, who spoke of a "moral duty". As of Thursday, he said, "a virtual meeting space with the past will be available to all. This will help protect us against the resurgence of destructive forces and ideologies: only by passing on memories to the benefit of future generations can we avoid dangerous forms of nationalisms that seem to take root now on our continent." According to Ambassador Wasum-Rainer, the project is a "bulwark against the resurgence of a past that is never far away. The EU and its values are now more than ever an indispensable reference for dealing with challenges such as migration and terrorism." The result of "close cooperation" between Italy and Germany, the initiative aims to "create a common culture of memory", said the German ambassador, who pointed out that the work was financed by Berlin through the Italian-German Fund for the Future. It is a "very challenging scientific project" to record all acts of violence committed by the Nazis and Fascists in Italy, "to ensure the victims a proper memory." The online database is "accessible to all and can be updated, so that in the future, when there will be no more witnesses, this knowledge will still be available." ANPI President Carlo Smuraglia said the initiative was a "step forward for the common memory". He stressed the importance of the project for to combat certain ideas that are still alive in Germany and in Italy and "to identify common ground more easily as the foundation for the relationship, not to find consensus." (AGI).
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