Objective: To identify the way in which the Italian Far Right’s dead are constructed as “martyrs” and to understand the implications of this framing.

Analytical Skills:Visual/textual analysis

1.1 Martyrs, Heroes and Victims

Instructors might begin by asking students what it means to call someone a “martyr,” “hero,” and “victim.” Students should draw up three columns and think about the qualities we attribute to someone when we call them martyr/hero/victim.

Questions to Consider:

1. Are there particular contexts in which each term is commonly used?
2. Instructors should encourage students to think about the concept of sacrifice here. Is it an important part of each of these terms?

Examples to Consider:

• Heroes — Twenty-Two Stories from the Great War
• Alberto Giaquinto — In Your Name the Revolution Advances
• Mikis Mantakas — Europe in the Struggle for Freedom Will Not Forget Its Martyrs
• Stefano and Virgilio Mattei — We Will Not Forget
• Heroes [Come] from the People

1.2 Visual Representations of Sacrifice

Navigate to the “Themes” section of this website and click on “Martyrs.” The materials featured here are designed to honor the ‘fallen comrades’ of the Italian Far Right. Consider the iconography, colors, and slogans incorporated into the materials.

Questions to Consider:

1. How is the idea of sacrifice in the name of ideology represented visually and textually?
2. Are there any religious overtones in any of these posters? Identify these elements, and the emotions and conclusions they are designed to provoke.
3. Instructors should ask their students to consider why the concept of sacrifice might be valuable in political propaganda. What impact might this framing have on an individual’s willingness to engage in acts of ideologically-motivated violence? Would this language make sense outside of a Catholic country?

Examples to Consider:

• Victory — Parade for the Centenary of the Italian Victory
• Heroes — Twenty-Two Stories from the Great War
• Alberto Giaquinto — In Your Name the Revolution Advances
• Mikis Mantakas — Europe in the Struggle for Freedom Will Not Forget Its Martyrs
• Stefano and Virgilio Mattei — We Will Not Forget

1.3 Public Performances of Collective Identity

You will notice that many of the materials in this collection publicize a commemoration ceremony or a demonstration in memory of neo-fascist “martyrs.” During these ceremonies, the leader typically calls out the name of the dead and receives a cry of “PRESENTE!” (PRESENT!), a call and response ritual that originated in Mussolini’s Italy and drew attention to the imagined eternal presence of Fascism’s fallen “comrades,” who died in skirmishes with the Italian left-wing during the so-called Biennio rosso (Red Biennium) between 1919 and 1920. Mourners wear black shirts and black boots, and stand in regimented, military-style lines. An example of this type of annual collective memory ritual among the Italian Far Right can be seen in this YouTube video, which shows a commemoration ceremony for the “martyrs” of the Acca Larenzia killings. Instructors should ask students to think about how these participants make their ideological beliefs clear during this ceremony (clothing, symbols, rituals etc).

Questions to Consider:

1. In what ways do these public performances of a subversive and banned ideology build group identity?
   
2. Would far right mourning have the same effect if these types of collective ceremonies were conducted in private?
3. In which specific materials featured in this digital exhibition do you see similar commemorative strategies being deployed? What visual or textual elements stand out?

Examples to Consider:

• January 7
• Heroes [Come] from the People
• Alberto Giaquinto — In Your Name the Revolution Advances
• Mikis Mantakas — Europe in the Struggle for Freedom Will Not Forget Its Martyrs
• Stefano and Virgilio Mattei — We Will Not Forget
• Gabriele Lives
• Gabriele!
• To Domenico
• Domenico Lives!

Additional Resources

Confino, Alon, Paul Betts, and Dirk Schumann, eds. 2008. Between Mass Death and Individual Loss: The Place of the Dead in Twentieth-Century Germany. New York: Berghahn Books.

King, Amy. 2020. “Antagonistic Martyrdom: Memory of the 1973 Rogo Di Primavalle.” Modern Italy 25:1 (February): 33–48.

Miller-Idriss, Cynthia. 2019. “Dying for a Cause, Causing Death: The Threat of Violence.” In The Extreme Gone Mainstream: Commercialization and Far Right Youth Culture in Germany, Cynthia Miller-Idriss, ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Neocleous, Mark. 2005. “Long Live Death! Fascism, Resurrection, Immortality.” Journal of Political Ideologies 10:1 (February): 31–49.

British School at Rome. 2021. “1921 e Dintorni: 'Fascist Martyrs.'” YouTube (November 1).

2020. “Valley of the Fallen.” 99% Invisible (July 29).