Liberation Day (Italy)

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Liberation Day
25 April
Next time25 April 2024 (2024-04-25)
Frequencyannual
First time25 April 1946
Related to (4 November)

Liberation Day (

Italian civil war in the latter phase of World War II. That is distinct from Republic Day (Festa della Repubblica), which takes place on 2 June and commemorates the 1946 Italian institutional referendum
.

History

Main articles:
Italian civil war
Italian civil war
Italian partisans parade in vehicles through the streets of Bologna after the liberation of the city (21 April 1945).

The end of the war on Italian territory, with the definitive surrender of the German forces to the

Italian civil war.[4]

Italian partisans in Piazza San Marco in Venice during the days of liberation.
Liberation parade in Turin on 6 May 1945.

Although other European countries such as

collaborationist governments with Nazi Germany during World War II, armed confrontation between compatriots was most intense in Italy, making the Italian case unique.[5]The use of the term "civil war" was frequent by fighters and during the war itself, for example in literary works by Beppe Fenoglio. In the post-war era the definition was generally avoided and used mainly by the right as by fascist politician and historian Giorgio Pisanò. Claudio Pavone's book Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità della Resistenza (A Civil War. Historical Essay On the Morality Of the Resistance), published in 1991, led the term "Italian Civil War" to become a widespread term used in Italian[6] and international[7][8]
historiography.

The date of April 25 was chosen by convention, as it was the day of the year 1945 when the National Liberation Committee of Upper Italy (CLNAI) - whose command was based in Milan and was chaired by Alfredo Pizzoni, Luigi Longo, Emilio Sereni, Sandro Pertini, and Leo Valiani (present among others the designated president Rodolfo Morandi, Giustino Arpesani, and Achille Marazza) - proclaimed a general insurrection in all the territories still occupied by the Nazi-fascists, indicating to all the partisan forces active in Northern Italy that were part of the Volunteer Corps of Freedom to attack the Nazist and Fascist garrisons by imposing the surrender, days before the arrival of the Allied troops; at the same time, the National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy personally issued legislative decrees,[9] assuming power "in the name of the Italian people and as a delegate of the Italian Government", establishing among other things the death sentence for all fascist hierarchs and other collaborationists of the Nazist occupiers,[10] including Benito Mussolini, who would be shot and killed three days later. "Surrender or die!" was the rallying call of the partisans that day and those immediately following.

Institution and celebrations

Anti-fascist demonstration for Liberation Day in Florence
on 25 April 2009
Altare della Patria in Rome
on 25 April 2016

The current date was chosen in 1946. On the proposal of the

Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, King Umberto II, then prince and lieutenant of the Kingdom of Italy, on 22 April 1946 issued the lieutenant legislative decree n. 185 "Disposizioni in materia di ricorrenze festive" ("Provisions on festive occasions").[11] The bill states that:[11]

In celebration of the total liberation of the Italian territory, 25 April 1946 is declared a national holiday[12]

— Lieutenant legislative decree n. 185/1946, art. 1

The anniversary was also celebrated in subsequent years, but only on 27 May 1949, article 2 of law n. 260 "Disposizioni in materia di ricorrenze festive" ("Provisions on festive occasions") made the anniversary a permanent, annual national holiday, together with the Italian national holiday of 2 June:[13]

The following days are considered public holidays, for the purposes of observing the full holiday schedule and the prohibition of performing certain legal acts, in addition to the day of the national holiday, the following days:
[...]
25 April, the anniversary of the liberation;[14]
[...]

— Law n. 260/1949, art. 2

Since then, public events in memory of the event, like marches and parades, have been organized annually in all Italian cities - especially in those decorated with military valor for the war of liberation. Among the events of the festival program there is the solemn homage, by the

Altare della Patria in Rome, with the deposition of a laurel wreath in memory of the fallen and missing Italians in wars.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Torino 1938|45 - la citta' della liberazione (Solo testo)".
  2. ^ "Italia", Dizionario enciclopedico italiano (in Italian), vol. VI, Treccani, 1970, p. 456
  3. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  4. JSTOR 442274
  5. ISBN 88-85987-95-8
    .
  6. ^ See as examples Renzo De Felice and Gianni Oliva.
  7. ^ See as examples the interview to French historian Pierre Milza on the Corriere della Sera of 14 July 2005 (in Italian) and the lessons of historian Thomas Schlemmer at the University of Munchen (in German).
  8. ISBN 9781139499644
    .
  9. ^ There are three fundamental decrees that seal the legislative work, already active since 1944: All powers to CLNAI; Decree for the administration of justice; Of socialization.
  10. ^ "Fondazione ISEC - cronologia dell'insurrezione a Milano - 25 aprile" (in Italian). Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  11. ^ a b "DECRETO LEGISLATIVO LUOGOTENENZIALE 22 aprile 1946, n. 185" (in Italian). Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Per celebrare la totale liberazione del territorio italiano, il 25 aprile 1946 è dichiarato festa nazionale"
  13. ^ "L. 27 maggio 1949, n. 260. "Disposizioni in materia di ricorrenze festive"" (PDF) (in Italian). Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  14. ^ "Sono considerati giorni festivi, agli effetti della osservanza del completo orario festivo e del divieto di compiere determinati atti giuridici, oltre al giorno della festa nazionale, i giorni seguenti:[...] il 25 aprile, anniversario della liberazione;[...]"
  15. ISBN 978-88-15-23341-7
    .

External links

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