NEWSLETTER

The Memories of the Others: German-Italian Erasmus+ Project

Dec 16, 2025

As part of the project “Le memorie degli altri | Die Erinnerungen der Anderen | The Memories of the Others”, funded by Erasmus+ and organized by Villa Vigoni in cooperation with Genintelligence e.V., thirty young people from various regions of Italy and Germany met in Rome from 23 to 30 November. They took part in a collective reflection process on the relationship between history and democracy. The project aims to promote an open and intergenerational exchange on the totalitarian pasts of the two countries, starting from the stories of those persecuted during Italian Fascism (1922–1945) and the German occupation of Italy (1943–1945). This initiative is part of a series of activities by/with Villa Vigoni aimed at fostering a shared historical awareness and a lasting understanding of the present and future of European democracy, whose foundation lies in the rule of law.

In preparation for the intensive programme in Rome, the participants – high school and university students as well as young professionals aged between 18 and 30, selected through a public call – took part in online meetings, conducting targeted research and group work on the topics they would later explore. During one of these preparatory meetings, Prof. Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi (University of Padua) provided an introduction to the historical context, focusing on the development of Fascism in comparison with Nazism.

Once in Rome, guided by a group of young members of Villa Vigoni who voluntarily contributed to the development of the project, the participants met witnesses and experts in the context of significant sites of memory. Among these were the Fosse Ardeatine, visited together with Claudio Fano and Paolo Pierantoni, sons of victims of the massacre and representatives of the Associazione Nazionale tra le Famiglie dei Caduti per la Libertà della Patria (ANFIM, i.e. “National Association of the Families of Those Fallen for the Freedom of the Homeland”). They also visited the museum “Vite di IMI”, dedicated to the Italian military internees who carried out a form of “unarmed resistance”, together with its director, Prof. Rosina Zucco, and Prof. Luciano Zani of the Associazione Nazionale Reduci dalla Prigionia, dall’Internamento, dalla Guerra di Liberazione e loro familiari (ANRP, i.e. “National Association of War and Internment Survivors and Their Families”).

At the Casa della Memoria e della Storia (i.e. “House of Memory and History”), the group met several direct witnesses, including Luciana Romoli – code name “Luce” (i.e. light) – who became a partisan courier at the age of eleven and is now a representative of the Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d’Italia (ANPI, i.e. “National Association of Italian Partisans”). They also met Pupa Garribba, Ugo Foà, and Gianni Polgar of the association Progetto Memoria (i.e. “Project Memory”), who shared their experiences as Jewish children persecuted by the racial laws and who are now active in schools in the fight against discrimination.

The group also spent a day in Civitella in Val di Chiana, where they met Ida Balò and Dino Tiezzi, survivors of the massacre of 29 June 1944, who shared their memories as children and direct witnesses. Guided by Terzilio Bozzi, vice-president of the association Civitella Ricorda (i.e. “Civitella remembers”), the participants then visited the Archive of Memory, which preserves documents and testimonies of a local history that is also part of Italian and European history. Villa Vigoni would like to thank the Circle of the Friends of Villa Vigoni for financing the bus trip.

Still at the Casa della Memoria e della Storia, the group also met experts such as Prof. Lorenzo Benadusi (Roma Tre University) and Prof. Dario Pasquini (University of Turin), who gave a lecture on the persecution of homosexual people during Nazifascism in Italy; and Marco De Paolis, Chief Military Prosecutor at the Court of Military Appeal in Rome, who spoke about the discovery of the so-called “cupboard of shame” and the subsequent investigations into more than 450 cases of massacres of Italian civilians and soldiers after 8 September 1943, including those of Marzabotto, Sant’Anna di Stazzema, Cefalonia, and Civitella in Val di Chiana.

Participants then went on a guided walk through the Jewish Ghetto, accompanied by Prof. Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi, who recounted historical anecdotes from the Fascist period, paying particular attention to the persecution of the Jewish community, living conditions after the promulgation of the racial laws, and the way raids and deportations were conducted.

The final activity took place at the Foro Italico, where representatives of the Young Villa Vigoni explained the historical and political importance of the site during the Fascist era, encouraging collective reflection on the role of architecture and symbolism in the representation of power, as well as on today’s approach to historical memory.
The project places particular emphasis on the multiplicity and diversity of remembrance. The double plural “the memories of the others” was deliberately chosen to highlight the fact that there is no single, uniform memory shared equally by everyone. By relating and listening to each other’s memories, participants develop an awareness of diversity and individuality, fundamental values of today’s democracies.
The purpose of remembering totalitarianism is always, at its core, to strengthen the democratic society that emerged from the rejection of Nazism and Fascism. It is therefore essential to preserve these memories, not as a mere sequence of historical events, but as a legacy of human stories: the experiences of those who were persecuted and oppressed, of those who resisted and fought for liberation, many of whom gave their lives, as well as the experiences of those who rebuilt society after its destruction. In order to do them justice, their sacrifice must not be forgotten, despite the many decades that have passed.
Villa Vigoni considers it crucial to contribute to this effort, especially in view of a future in which there will be no direct eyewitnesses of the events described above. At the end of the project, the German and Italian participants, with the support of Villa Vigoni and Genintelligence, will create a digital platform on which accounts of the various encounters will be preserved and made publicly accessible.

Press Review

 

Credits
Photos| Lorenzo Huskamp

Giovane - Junge