Mom the Fascist
I usually don’t talk so openly about my family’s deep background but this week at SleuthSayers I’m sharing some old photos and history about my mother’s back story growing up in Italy. I think you’ll find it interesting. She grew up in a small Italian village, and that experience of wartime living affected her for the rest of her life
That’s the subject of my article, which I’m calling:
Fascists in the Family!
Here’s a little of the story:
I had heard growing up that the fasces were a symbol of unity. Together, went the notion, the rods were stronger than each was alone. But it turns out that that concept came later, thanks to a fable by Aesop. The earliest users of the symbol would not have ascribed that meaning to the rods and axe.
My brothers and I were surprised later in life to discover these photos of Mom in various school pageants with a giant portraits of Il Duce in the background. She had described these events to us, but seeing the photos was another thing entirely. In the context of her time, she would have been called a “Piccola Fascista,” or a “little (female) fascist”.
She was under the age of ten when these pics were taken. She hailed from a family of four siblings. Near the end of their lives, I interviewed her and her older brother, Mike, whose story was slightly more troubling. As a teen he was sent to a fascist youth camp on the Adriatic coast, where young boys trained in calisthenics, marched around in green knickers and Tyroleon hats. Later that year, they performed for Il Duce himself in their regional capital.
The American saga of immigration means that millions of people with seemingly very little power are often thrust into the crosshairs of a global story. That’s the story of WWII. And it’s a story my Mom’s family lived.
I hope you’ll check it out. Especially the very strange photos I dug up from Mom’s collection as she passed away in 2016.
While we’re on the topic of Italy, I might as well put in a plug for my mystery novel, The Marshal of the Borgo, which is set in the Italian countryside. Witchcraft, vino, and murder, as I often tell people.
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