Battling an invisible enemy
Veterans mark 75th anniversary of Italy’s anti-Fascist World War II resistance
Veterans of Italy’s antiFascist World War II resistance have held marches throughout Italy every April 25 since 1945, to honour the uprising that helped end their country’s Nazi occupation.
This year’s 75th anniversary was long anticipated among the dwindling band of elderly survivors. But lockdown measures in the coronavirusafflicted country mean no marches can be held. So the veterans have resorted to the inventiveness they once employed in sabotage missions and guerrilla tactics against the Germans.
Yesterday, at the time the traditional parade would have started in Milan, where Italian Fascist ruler Benito Mussolini’s body was publicly displayed after his execution by resistance fighters, the National Association of Italian Partisans invited all to sing Bella Ciao, the anthem of Italy’s communist resistance, a major component of the liberation efforts.
On the eve of the anniversary, Associated Press photographers portrayed 15 former partisans at their balconies and windows in several
Never we would have imagined that after 75 years of our resistance against a visible enemy . . . today we would have found ourselves resisting an enemy . . . invisible and insidious. Rodolfo Lai, 92, main picture
Italian cities. Two display their medals and the tricoloured Italian flag.
Rodolfo Lai, 92, who, aged 15, killed a German paratrooper with a hand grenade to protect an escaping Italian officer, lamented the cancellation of the marches.
“Never we would have imagined that after 75 years of our resistance against a visible enemy . . . today we would have found ourselves resisting an enemy . . . invisible and insidious,” Lai said from his Rome apartment, referring to the novel coronavirus.
Silvio Anastasi, 88, said life in the war “was much easier for me. The shrewdness, courage and tactical skills we used against the NaziFascists are of no help today in fighting the coronavirus. I feel helpless.”
Elderly people are among the most vulnerable from Covid-19.
When Umberto Graziani, 96, was resigned when asked how he will celebrate this year: “Nothing, no march, I’ll stay home, how sad.”