Geschlechterspezifische Erinnerungsdiskurse zum Krieg 1915–1918. Das Fallbeispiel Italien

Abstract

The paper deals with the centenary of the First World War in Italy, focusing on gendered memory politics before and after 2015. It is characteristic of the ‘Italian case’ that over the course of the twentieth century gender images of the Great War appear closely linked to rhetoric figures established in the context of events commemorating the unification of Italy in 1861. Besides, remembering the First World War played an important role in Italian Fascism. The Fascist regime declared the Great War as a crucial reference point of political ideology. Correspondingly, it propagated gender images of ‘soldier-like manliness’ and ‘caring national motherhood’. In contrast, and in order to distance themselves from Fascism, Italian politics and public opinion after 1945 rather ignored the role of women in the First World War. Accordingly, the range of ‘available’ gender representations of the war remained rather limited in the second half of twentieth century. It was not until the commemoration events around 2015 that women’s and gender history research set in motion again. Against the backdrop of a significant gender bias in current Italian historical sciences and persisting research desiderata concerning World War One, the conclusions of such historiographic developments nevertheless remain ambivalent.