What was Italy like after the war?

During the war, the Italian army was not good at fighting, but the level of killing civilians and prisoners of war ranked first in the world. One Italian policeman killed hundreds of Jews, but after the war, no Italian war criminals were tried. Italian war criminals They all lived a life of freedom and respect, drinking wine while watching their former German and Japanese army comrades go to jail on TV, it was really fun. How could this happen? According to declassified information, Italy massacred no fewer Jews and civilians from various countries than Germany did, and the killings were more casual and the atrocities more frequent. However, no Italians were imprisoned for this matter, and Italy did not even pay a penny in compensation. As for an apology That is simply not the case. Those heroes who tortured and killed civilians dared to write memoirs and boast proudly of their heroic feats of killing civilians. Instead, they were worshiped by the country.

During World War II, Mussolini’s Italian army once They committed countless atrocities, but after the end of World War II, 60 years later, they were not punished in any way. What is the reason? This previously unheard-of conspiracy has recently begun to surface.

Fascists enjoyed their final years

Chiovanni Ravalli was a police officer who was responsible for solving the sensational theft of Caravaggio’s artwork in 1969. He has made great contributions and was once an advisor to the Italian Prime Minister. He is a successful and famous man. He receives a high pension after retirement. His mansion is in the southern suburbs of Rome, and he usually likes to raise flowers and plants. On April 30, 1989, 89-year-old Lavalli passed away with a smile.

However, this historical fact has been found in Italian historical archives: a Greek policeman named Isaak Sinanochiru was killed by an Italian officer within a few days in 1941. Tortured to death. Sinanojiru's teeth were pliers removed, and then he was tied to the tail of a horse and dragged until his skin and flesh were torn apart. The Italian officer also raped Greek women many times. He even ordered boiling cooking oil to be poured on 70 prisoners!

Who would have thought that the Italian officer was Giovanni Ravalli! At the end of World War II, he fell into the hands of the Greeks. In view of the seriousness of his crimes, the Greek judicial department sentenced him to death. But the Italian government hinted to the Greek government that if Ravalli was not released immediately, Italy would not pay war reparations to Greece. After the war, Greece was in desperate need of funds. Greece succumbed to the Italian threat. However, Italy’s war reparations are just talk and have never been fulfilled

Downplaying war crimes

For many years, the righteous forces in the world have been criticizing the Nazi atrocities committed by Germany and Japan, but Italy has managed to avoid accusations.

African and Balkan countries have sought to prosecute 1,200 Italians for war crimes, but successive Italian governments, academia and the media have invariably created a tight protection network for the Italian military.

In fact, Mussolini’s invading army killed thousands of innocent civilians. They bombed Red Cross organizations, dropped poison gas, starved babies in concentration camps to death, and even wanted to eradicate other ethnic groups. culture. James Valson, a historian at the American University in Rome, pointed out: "Compared with France's reflection on the Vichy regime, the Italians seem to have nothing happened. Their attitude towards facing history is not even as good as the Japanese."

So, how has Italy concealed such important historical facts until now? Molipo Focati, a historian at the German Historical Institute in Rome, recently uncovered important evidence in documents and diplomatic cables from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1946, Italy's newly formed Republic of Italy was recognized by the people who joined the Allies in opposing Mussolini, became Italy's legitimate government, and agreed to extradite war crimes suspects to other countries. Subsequently, Italy established an investigative committee, drew up a list of main suspects, and even printed an arrest warrant. But this is just a show. The Italian government knew that agreeing to extradition would anger voters who still support the Italian military. In order to please these voters, the Italian government began to go to great lengths to portray Italian troops as victims of the Nazis. Focati's research found that Italian government civil servants were told to try to downplay calls for the punishment of war criminals abroad to the national media. Prime Minister Alcide Gaspiri even issued a special order on January 19, 1948: “Delay as long as possible, and do not answer questions if you can.

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The great escape of Italian war criminals

The Italian government’s tricks even succeeded in deceiving the United Nations. Therefore, although Italy was the main accomplice of the Nazis, the United Nations did not make a special trip for Italian war criminals. "Nuremberg Trial". According to evidence provided by historians, Italian General Pietro Badoglio commanded his aircraft to drop 280 kilograms of poison gas bombs on some villages and Red Cross camps in Ethiopia, but he was not harmed. The most outrageous thing is that his hometown was named after him after his death. During World War II, Alfred Graziani was known as the "Butcher of Libya". He commanded the killing of a large number of Libyans. Some villages were killed to the point of leaving no trace of their flesh intact. His soldiers enjoyed taking pictures while holding the heads of the murdered people. In retaliation, he ordered the killing of tens of thousands of Yugoslav civilians and imprisoned thousands more in concentration camps with little water, food, or medicine, one of his soldiers wrote to his family in July 1942. : “We destroyed everything here, searched from house to house, and either beat them to death or shot them. ”

In fact, some Italian war crimes experts have compiled statistics on the crimes committed by the Italian army by year, but the statistical results are strictly blocked by the government and ordinary people have no chance to see them.

Five In the 1990s, two Italians directed two films about the Italian occupation of Greece and were imprisoned by the authorities. Since then, no one has dared to touch upon this subject. When glorifying war crimes, there will be strong protests from neighboring countries and even trigger diplomatic wars. But Italians never have to worry about this. In 1991, an Italian director released the film "Mediterranean", which seriously violated historical facts. The Italian soldiers in the film played football, drank coffee, and fell in love with the locals on a Greek island. However, such a film that glorified the invaders did not receive criticism from public opinion.

The true face of history

In 1989, the British Broadcasting Corporation produced the documentary "The Fascist Legend", which detailed the bloody crimes committed by the Italian army in Africa and the Balkans, as well as the historical facts that the Allies helped Italy cover up. The Italian government was dissatisfied, and the ambassador to the UK lodged a protest with the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Italian state-owned broadcaster RAI managed to purchase two of the episodes, but immediately received a ban from the Italian government. So far, the two episodes have lasted only 2 hours. The program is still locked in the company's database.

Kim Kilby, who was responsible for producing "Legend of Fascism" later took the film to the Florence Film Festival, and the Italian government arranged for someone to keep an eye on him. The experience of the film's historical consultant Mike Palumbo was even more terrifying. Some Italian journalists frequently attacked him, and he even received death threats, and some of the threatening calls were made by Italian veterans.

This documentary caused strong reactions among Italian historians: "Italians still have a colonial mentality. Another historian, Angelo Poca, said that he had become very interested in that period of history, but when he looked for relevant documents, he was either told that they were “lost” or “had been borrowed.” .

In Italy, although there are not many historians like Rochat and Poca who have the courage to face history, it is precisely because of their pioneering work that the Italian army fought in the "World War II". The atrocities of the period have only become the focus of attention today. People have noticed that in March this year, Italian President Carlo Ciampi paid tribute to the Italian troops who were massacred by the Germans on the Greek island of Kefalonia. Acknowledging that the Italian army invaded Greece, and in a rare move, several Italian newspapers began to report on the latest research results on that period of history.