Fascist Occupation Research Articles

The Albanian Righteous: a case of missing information

ABSTRACT The first Albanian Righteous Among the Nations was recognized only in 1987, 24 years after the programmme's birth - one of the longest periods before the first recognition by Yad Vashem's database. Rescue took many forms and rescuers came from different social classes, professions and religions. The vast majority of the rescued were refugees arriving in 1940-43, when the country was under fascist occupation. The information about Albanian rescuers during the Holocaust is still incomplete, mostly due to the country's decades-long extreme isolation after World War II. Albania experienced the most severe dictatorship and repression in Europe. After the official recognition of the state of Israel in 1949, the Albanian government froze bilateral relations until the 1990s. During the communist period, several scholars from “enemy countries” requested information regarding the Jewish community and other important issues, but the authorities did never respond. In addition, the exchange of information between the rescuers and the rescued was impossible. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc state that did never establish diplomatic ties with Israel and other so-called revisionist countries.

Историческая память и современность: Башкортостан и Донбасс в годы Великой Отечественной войны

This article turns to the relationship between the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) to demonstrate the solidarity of Soviet peoples and regions during the Great Patriotic War. This period was a gruelling test of strength and unity for the fraternal peoples of the USSR. Special attention in the study is given to the role of the workers of the Bashkir ASSR in the restoration of the national economy of the Donbass, liberated from the Fascist occupation. Little-studied archival documents are introduced here, covering the extent of the aid, including social assistance, provided by the people of the Bashkir ASSR to the affected territories (machinery and building materials, industrial equipment, livestock, food and consumer goods). It is noted that during the harsh war years, the best qualities of Soviet peoples were drawn forth, which have enduring significance and stay relevant today: solidarity, cooperation and selfless mutual aid, which made an important contribution to the victory. In addition, it is argued that the aid to the liberated regions strengthened the economic and political unity of Soviet society and laid the foundations for the country’s successful post-war reconstruction. The research is based on documents from the National Archives of the Republic of Bashkortostan, which keeps an extensive body of invaluable sources on the history of the relationship between the peoples during the Great Patriotic War (materials on the evacuation of factories and scientific and cultural institutions as well as the population of the Ukrainian SSR, on launching the evacuated industrial plants in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, on the cooperation between Ukrainian and Bashkir scientists, writers and cultural figures, as well as on the aid of Bashkir workers to the liberated territories of the Ukrainian SSR).

Dealing with the Material Legacies of Italian Fascist Colonialism in Post-Communist Tirana

Albania was Italy’s most short-lived colony, under official fascist control only from the Italian invasion in 1939 until the collapse of Mussolini’s regime in 1943. However, although the fascist occupation was brief, there had been a significant Italian involvement in Albania since 1923. Thus, the influence of Fascism on Albania and especially on the capital city of Tirana was immense, not least in the areas of urban planning and architecture, most of which was retained intact by the Communist dictatorship which ruled from 1944 to 1990. This essay investigates the afterlives of this fascist-era architecture in post-Communist Tirana. In the panoply of Italy’s imperial territories, Albania was unique in passing from a fascist dictatorship to a Communist one and this trajectory provides important nuance to the current debates regarding the legacies of fascist heritage in the 75 years since the regime’s fall and especially in the twenty-first century. This essay pays particular attention to the years 2016–2020 during which two notable examples of fascist-era architecture in Tirana, namely the city’s football stadium and the National Theatre, have been at the centre of major political and public debates about the future of the city, the country and its governance, asking what these recent cases can reveal about the memory of fascist imperialism in post-Communist, democratic Albania and contributing to ongoing debates about the management, treatment and reception of the material legacies of Italian colonialism more broadly.

Tribes in arms Gjon Marka Gjoni and the irregular and paramilitary volunteer forces of Northern Albania during the fascist occupation (1939-1943)

This paper analyzes the relationship between Gjon Marka Gjoni, head of the Mirdita tribes in North Albania, and the phenomenon of mobilization and recruitment of many men from the hinterland of North Albania in the irregular and paramilitary forces, i.e., in the voluntary bands and the Milicia Fashiste Shqiptare [Albanian Fascist Militia], during the Italian occupation (1939-1943). In addition to his personal role and interpersonal ties, it focuses on the personal motivations of these forces, with an emphasis on both economic ones - wages, benefits, and potential banditry opportunities - and emotional ones, the latter driven by various kinds of fears. Finally, to better understand their local activity and the dynamics that emerged, this paper also addresses the nature and the extent of their violence and the consequent impact on the population.

Старообрядчество в Ростовской области в 1944–1960-е годы

Based on the analysis of a set of clerical records from the fund of the Plenipotentiary Board for Religious Cults at the Rostov Oblast Council of People’s Commissars, this article analyzes the state of the Old Believers’ religious organizations on the territory of Rostov Oblast in the period from 1944 to 1960. During the years of fascist occupation, the Old Believers’ communities, as well as other religious organizations in Rostov Oblast and in the USSR, began opening churches and meetinghouses. From the various Old Believers’ confessions which ceased to exist in the Don region in the 1930s, only the Old Believers of the Belaya Krinitsa confession and the Bespopovtsy recommenced their divine service. After the Board for Religious Cults had been established in Rostov Oblast, there were registered 4 churches and meetinghouses of the Belaya Krinitsa confession believers and 2 meetinghouses of the Bespopovtsy. Due to the establishment of the Donetsk-Don and Caucasus Eparchy, the churches of the Belaya Krinitsa confession became subordinated to the eparchial power and got their priesthood with no obstructions. During the war and in the post-war period, priests of both the Old Believers accepting the hierarchy and the Bespopovtsy had their origins in the Old Be-lievers’ community but did not have any special seminary education. Unlike the Belaya Krinitsa confession, some Bespopovtsian communities with small groups of parishioners became exclusively established round individual canon setters. After they died, their churches became dissociated and lost registration. The confession institutionalization for the Belaya Krinitsa hierarchy became the governing factor for the development of this specific Old Believers’ movement and for gradual decay of various Bespopovtsian confessions which had been widely spread in the Don region in the pre-revolutionary period.

“I wanted to become an Abyssinian”: Rewriting Indro Montanelli’s memories of colonial Africa in Francesca Melandri’s Sangue giusto (2017)

ABSTRACT This article focuses on journalist Indro Montanelli’s memories of Destà/Fatìma or Fatuma, the 12-year-old child he bought as his “wife” while he was a volunteer in the 1935 Italo-Ethiopian war, and on a colonial narrative echoing his story in the 2017 novel Sangue giusto by Francesca Melandri. It considers the roles of race, gender, sexuality, and national memory in the texts, moving from the debate around the monument dedicated to the prominent journalist in the city of Milan to the analysis of the power dynamics in the novel. John Akomfrah’s notion of memory as “a deconstructive gesture against white mythologies” and Aimé Césaire’s and Michel Foucault’s idea of memory as counter-cartography are used to analyse both Montanelli’s recollections of Destà and the relationship between Attilio Profeti, the main character of Melandri’s novel, and Ababa, the girl he turned into his servant and lover during the fascist occupation of Ethiopia.

Terror or Errors?: From the Socialist Narrative to the Post-Cold War Era

During the Second World War, the Yugoslav National Liberation Movement was one of the most successful resistance movements throughout Europe. However, it had to overcome various obstacles, while its direction was not consistent. Over the course of the first year of fascist occupation, the Partisans and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia confronted a practical dilemma, each potential solution to which might alter the course of the Liberation Movement’s struggle: popular anti-fascism or socialist revolution? According to the existing literature, the latter outweighed the former from late 1941 to mid-1942, but its catastrophic consequences and Comintern’s intervention resulted in the abandonment of this radical approach. The ‘leftist errors’, as this period is known, marked a cycle of serious defeats, setbacks, and failures for the Partisan Army, especially in Montenegro and Herzegovina. The confiscation of properties, burning of villages, and executions of existing or potential enemies were the manifestations of this policy, which aimed for the socialist transformation of Yugoslavia as part of the liberation struggle. This paper will try to investigate how the existing literature has approached this controversial topic.

Cjelovito istraživanje uloge Pašage Mandžića u tuzlanskom procesu / Comprehensive Research of Pašaga Mandžić's Role in the Tuzla Process

The book “Tuzla Processes: 1970s,“ by Prof. Dr. Kadrija Hodžić, professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tuzla, presents a comprehensive study of the course of political events related to the role of Pašaga Mandžić in the development of Tuzla and the Tuzla region. It is important to keep in mind that Pašaga Mandžić belongs to the leading communist cadres who organized an uprising against the fascist occupation of the country in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1941. As a prominent anti-fascist fighter, Pašaga Mandžić will become the commissioner of the First Partisan Strike Battalion, formed in Srednje near Sarajevo, in March 1942. Together with Avdo Humo, Rodoljub Čolaković and Đuro Pucar - Stari, he participated in the preparations for the First, Second and Third Sessions of ZAVNOBIH. At the Third ZAVNOBIH Session in 1945 in Sarajevo, Pašaga Mandžić was elected a member of the first People's Government of Federal Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the post Second World War period, Pašaga Mandžić performed numerous duties, from the president of the Tuzla District to other duties in the republican bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the early 1970s, at the invitation of the leadership of the League of Communists of the Municipality of Tuzla, Pašaga Mandžić, as a pensioner, came to Tuzla and with his experience contributed to the economic development of his hometown. After the dismissal of Sead Babović, Secretary of the Municipal Committee of SK Tuzla, Pašaga Mandžić with his views on the development of Tuzla's economy comes into dispute and conflict with the current political leadership of Tuzla. The actual showdown between the leadership of the League of Communists of Tuzla and Pašaga Mandžić took place at the Eighth Session of the OKSK Tuzla in 1971. However, that conflict did not have the character of a political affair. Pašaga Mandžić’s deeper conflict with the League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina arose on 26 June 1973, at an extended session of the Central Committee Secretariat, Communist Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when Pašaga Mandžić individually raised the question of organizing and leading the uprising in Eastern Bosnia. Pašaga Mandžić 's position was assessed as a form of nationalism dangerous for treating the character of the uprising and the national liberation struggle in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At that time, it was not only the ideological critique of Pašaga Mandžić. Accusations followed against Pašaga Mandžić and a group of people who worked more closely with him in Tuzla than the Central Committee and the State Security Service. The brutal procedure of the State Security Service against the members of the Tuzla group was carried out, and then the court process in Tuzla. There is also a belief that Pašaga Mandžić was protected from prosecution by Josip Broz Tito on the Đuro Pucar’s intercession. Author Prof. Dr. Kadrija Hodžić conducts many years of research on Tuzla processes on an interdisciplinary basis. The results of the research shed light on everything that took place in the Tuzla processes of the 1970s. The whole result of the research enables a new social evaluation of the role of Pašaga Mandžić in the national liberation struggle and socio-economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the hometown of Tuzla after the Second World War. In the coming decades, a reliable critical evaluation of the contribution of the research of Prof. Dr. Kadrija Hodžić establishes complete historical truths about a revolutionary figure such as Pašaga Mandžić.

A microphone in a chandelier: How a secret recording sparks mnemonic imagination and affect

In this study, I examine a recording of an old Slovenian choral song made in 1941 during the Fascist occupation. Recorded music, I argue, has the capacity to condense the past and to potentiate the affective mnemonic imagination of the past regardless of its mediated form. To make this argument, I investigate the recording as a temporal object that drives affective mnemohistories; modulates individual and collective experiences, expectations and interpretations; and induces mnemonic imagination. I discuss the song’s pre-recorded historical background and the technical history of the recording, and the song’s affective force in live performances as compared to the mediated experience in YouTube. The investigation of the song as a temporal object that engenders variegated, multilayered engagements with the past contributes to the debates on the study of music and memory, and the history of media technologies in the context of post-socialist memory.

Fascist Repression in the Italian ‘Fourth Shore’: The Special Tribunal for the Defence of the State in Libya

This article investigates the Special Tribunal for the Defence of the State (Tribunale Speciale per la Difesa dello Stato; TSDS) in the colonial territories that constitute present-day Libya at the time of fascist rule. This court acted as the judicial arm of the fascist regime in the so-called Italian ‘fourth shore’. As a tool of the repressive apparatus of the regime, it persecuted the ‘anti-national enemies’ outside the metropolitan area, striking against those who opposed the fascist dictatorship and the fascist occupation in the colony by de-legitimising the defendants on juridical, political and moral grounds. The TSDS in Libya shows that the fight against the ‘anti-nationals’ was a primary concern of Mussolini's ultranationalist regime not only in the peninsular territory but also within the colonial administration.

自力文団カイ・フン著『清徳』

This paper argues for a re-assessment of the writings of Khái Hưng (Trần Khánh Giư, 1896-1947), a prolific writer of the Self-Reliant Literary Group (Tự lực văn đoàn) which was founded in Hanoi in 1933. Executed by the Việt Minh in 1947, Khái Hưng produced numerous fiction and journalistic works during the French colonial period and the Japanese fascist occupation period. However, Khái Hưng’s contributions have largely been erased from histories of Vietnamese literary modenrity. My paper attempts to counter these erasures by deciphering his last full-length novel, Thanh Đức (1943).

Was Dancing Possible During the Fascist Occupation of Yugoslavia?

Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Performancekunst der Partisanen wahrend des jugoslawischen Befreiungskampfes. Es werden folgende drei Punkte behandelt: 1. Alle analysierten Performances sind in Form von Fotografien der zeitgenossischen Fotografen Jože Petek und Edi Selhaus erhalten. 2. Im Artikel werden die Auffuhrungen der bekanntesten Partisanentanzerin Marta Paulin-Brina durch aus das Prisma des Gedichts “Hymne zu Agitprop-Theater” von Janez Kardelj untersucht. 3. Zwei fur den Widerstand wichtige Symbole werden analysiert – der Stern und der Name „Tito“, die Schulkinder mit ihren Korpern auf einem schneebedeckten Feld bildeten. Gegen die politischen Vorschriften, dass Partisanenfotografie auf Reportage und Dokumentation beschrankt sein sollte, dienen diese Fallstudien als Beweis fur eine Inszenierung und Performance fur eine Kamera und untergraben somit den propagandistischen Reduktionismus. Diese Performances richteten sich an die Widerstandsgemeinschaft, das heist, sie druckten Symbole der Befreiung selbst aus und nahmen sogar die kunftige rituelle Auffuhrung unter der Agide des titoistischen Staates vorweg.

Болгарські села Північного Приазов’я у 1941-1943 роках: німецька окупація в етнічному вимірі

Аналізу піддано політику окупаційної німецької влади стосовно жителів болгарських сіл Північного Приазов’я. Виявлено, що й у рідному селі, і на примусових роботах у Німеччині, місцеві болгари не мали помітних преференцій за національною ознакою порівняно з іншими жителями регіону. Єдина обставина, що вирізняла болгар, – можливість встановлення зв’язку з історичною батьківщиною з метою пошуку захисту та допомоги. Щоправда, використання цієї можливості не набуло великого поширення. Одним з її виявів стала спроба репатріації деякої кількості таврійських болгар на історичну батьківщину, що завершилася їх примусовим поверненням до СРСР у 1945 р.

«CHERKASSOV» MOVEMENT in YALTA 1944

The article deals with the problems of post-war reconstruction of Yalta – one of the most popular resorts of the Soviet Union. During the great Patriotic war, this all-Union health resort was subjected to barbaric destruction and looting. The fascist occupation regime (1941-1944) caused enormous damage to the health resort Fund of Yalta, the city economy and the entire infrastructure of the southern coast of Crimea. The rapid return to the pre-war structure and the commissioning of social facilities has become a priority for the regional authorities and the population. In addition to traditional methods, the Patriotic «Сherkassov» movement, which began in the liberated Stalingrad in 1943 and spread throughout the country, was widely used. A solid Foundation was laid for the interaction of the city administration of Yalta and the local population with the commanders and soldiers of the red Army. Based on the analysis of archival documents of the State archive of the Republic of Crimea, it was possible to trace the course of restoration work in the fi rst months after the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula from fascism. It is established that for the rapid restoration and functioning of the Yalta resorts, public activists launched a socialist competition on «Сherkassov» methods

ВОССТАНОВЛЕНИЕ ИНФРАСТРУКТУРЫ ЯЛТЫ В 1944 ГОДУ

The article considers little-studied stories in Russian historiography about the post-war state of Yalta — one of the most famous health resorts of the Soviet Union, the «pearl» of the southern coast of Crimea. Based on the analysis of mainly archival sources, the most important measures of the party and Soviet leadership bodies, the heads of garrisons immediately after the withdrawal of the fascist occupation regime were analyzed. It was established that the authorities paid priority attention not only to the destroyed economy and infrastructure, but also to the speedy introduction of all-Union and departmental sanatoriums and recreation houses, other recreational facilities. As a result of their coordinated actions in the region, food industry enterprises, collective farms and cooperative artels, objects of cultural heritage and the social and everyday sphere were put into operation in a short time.

Opismenjavanje stanovništva Bosne i Hercegovine u periodu Narodnooslobodilačkog rata (1941-1945)

The author of the paper presents the state of literacy of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina until the Second World War, and in particular explains the activities that are conducted with regard to the literacy of the population in the period of the National Liberation War (NOR). Certainly, a special review was given to the presentation of the literacy process of the population, which is an outgrowth for regular primary school education, and on the activities that took place on the occasion of the NOR on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, the literacy of children through attending elementary school, as well as literacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the fascist occupation and administration of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), were partly given in order to review the framework state. Bosnia and Herzegovina had a very high percentage of the illiterate population before the Second World War. How fascist occupation, warfare, human and material losses have compounded this picture, and whether during the war, in the liberated areas, adequate methods of working for the literacy of the population were found, the author explains on the pages of this paper.

ЛЕНИНГРАДСКИЕ ДЕТСКИЕ ДОМА НА КУБАНИ В 1942-1943 ГОДАХ

The article deals with the evacuation process of street children from the besieged city of Leningrad to Krasnodar Krai and the situation with orphanages during fascist occupation in the south of the country. The authors, on the basis of the analysis of the registration cards data of the inmates from Leningrad orphanages, have identified the number of the evacuees and their places of location in the Kuban region. It is noted that Leningrad children were settled mainly in the stanitsas of Otradnensky district. It is concluded that thanks to the evacuation, as well as to the heroic feat of the orphanages’ employees and local residents, most of the young Leningraders were saved.

ОРГАНІЗАЦІЯ СІЛЬСЬКОГОСПОДАРСЬКОЇ ДОСЛІДНОЇ СПРАВИ НА ТЕРИТОРІЇ РАЙХСКОМІСАРІАТУ «УКРАЇНА»

Agricultural research as a system of permanent research institutes for agricultural needs during the Second World War on the territory of Ukraine has proved to be a remarkable period in the study of the history of science. Within 6 years it changed its structure several times to meet the needs of the party that captured Ukrainian territories: in Western Ukraine from the Polish model to the Soviet one; under fascist occupation - to meet the needs of the Germans and Romanians; evacuation and re-evacuation, which also required reorganization, re-institutionalization of the institutions to new climatic conditions in the critical situation of the war time. A separate aspect of the research is an analysis of changes in the organizational structure of the agrarian research institutes during the German occupation. This article is aimed at analyzing the organizational structure of agricultural research in the period of the German occupation during World War II on the territory of the Reichskommissariat «Ukraine» on the basis of original sources. The analysis of these issues will allow us to reflect on the events of the World War II more closely, better understand the plans of Nazi Germany on the development of Ukrainian lands meant for the prospective settlement of the Germans, the organizational drawbacks of the Soviet agricultural research and Nazi’s attempts to overcome them. Utilization of the Ukrainian arable farm lands became a major geostrategic and military aspect German invasion plans. For the effective exploitation of this territory, all German scientific forces were united to study the agricultural potential of the occupied lands. With the establishment of new occupation authorities in Ukraine, their primary actions were to collect maximum information from scientific documentation and materials on breeding, to involve the best local scientists to projects aimed at deep study of the occupied territories for the prospective German settlers. The main organization responsible for the collection and export of scientific material from the occupied territories was the Rosenberg Operational Headquarters, which collaborated with the Imperial Ministry of Occupied Eastern Territories. The departments of this ministry belonged to the Central Research Service of the East, under supervision of all German scholars who came for scientific work on the territory of the Reichscommissariat «Ukraine». In order to study the scientific potential of the agricultural sector in the autumn of 1941, the Center for Research of Agriculture and Forestry for Northwestern Ukraine was created. During 1942-1943 agricultural scientific institutions accounted to the Institute of Local Lore and Economic Research, and later to the National Research Center with the allocation of a separate Special Group on Agricultural Research. This structure allowed the occupational authorities to control the institutional, financial, personnel and scientific issues of the institutions and integrate domestic agricultural research with the German science management. Despite the presence of the Ukrainian administration representatives in each agricultural research institute, all issues were resolved solely by the German authorities subordinated to the Imperial Ministry of Occupied Eastern Territories The occupation authorities planned to use the scientific potential of these institutions for better development of the invaded territories. This issue was in the center of attention, both for economic, scientific and ideological benefits of the new government. With approaching military actions, German curators were ordered to export scientific records, elite seed funds and valuable literature. At the beginning of 1945, researchers of agricultural research institutes and scientific documentation were scattered among different German institutions in Poland and Germany. Thus, despite numerous difficulties caused on the territory of Ukrainian lands by the Second World War and German interference into the organizational framework of agricultural science, this situation proved to have a positive turn, because Ukrainian scientists never ceased their work, managed to preserve the agricultural potential of Ukraine.

Joseph Marx’s creative figure: composer, philosopher, educator, public man

Relevance of the study. It sheds light on the Ukrainian musicological context within the creative work of Joseph Marx (1882–1964) – an outstanding Austrian composer, teacher, pianist, theorist and musical philosopher of the first half of the twentieth century. He is the author of 150 vocal pieces, a significant number of chamber instrumental opuses, two piano concertos, as well as epic symphonic works. Hundreds of students from different countries of the world studied in his class. J. Marx is the author of one of the first theoretical studies on the psychology of perception of sound and tonality.The main objective of the study is to provide an overview of the life and creative path of J. Marx. This is especially important because in recent years we can see the increasing interest of performers in the creative work of Joseph Marx. There is also a need to introduce the work of J. Marx to the Ukrainian audience.The study was carried out by using biographical and source-study method (allowing exploring the life path of J. Marx in the context of the historical epoch). An overview of the main sources of information about the life and creative work of the composer is presented. The process of the creative formation of J. Marx is revealed, and a detailed portrait of his personality is created. The main genre spheres of J. Marx’s creative work are described: chamber-vocal and chamber-instrumental, piano and symphonic. Special attention is paid to the key composer’s masterpieces such as the Piano Quintet, Six Pieces for Piano, Romantic Piano Concerto, Autumn Symphony, etc. Information about the history of the creation and the main performers of the works of the composer is presented. The original philosophical and musical-theoretical views of J. Marx are studied. The main aspects of his large-scale pedagogical and social activity, which was a whole epoch in the history of Austrian and world culture, were elucidated in detail. The emphasis is on the problem of inadequate historical evaluation of the activities of Marx during the fascist occupation of Austria. The sharpness of the relationship between the master as the leader of the “conservative” party in Austrian culture and the new generation of avant-garde composers is underlined.The conclusion of the study is that the life and work of Joseph Marx is an integral part of the Western European musical culture of the twentieth century and needs further research.

THREAT OF TYPHUS EPIDEMICS IN THE VORONEZH REGION DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR (1942-1944)

The article describes the threat of typhus epidemics in the area due to the fascist occupation in the Voronezh Region during the Great Patriotic War. The authors present the facts concerning attempts of civil and military healthcare to eliminate the threat of the epidemics among the civilian population and the Red Army soldiers.