“Unraveling the Mystery: Why Italy Escaped a Post-War Reckoning for Its Atrocities”
But going back to the topic of today, Nazi leadership were partially held accountable. Some on the Japanese side were made to take the blame for the rest, and that’s the Axis powers sorted, right?
Well, at least the two Axis powers on which most historical accounts and fictional media tend to focus on.
… but what about the oft’ forgotten third wheel, Italy?
Despite the frequently depicted stereotype of ‘Italians as good folk’, Italian regular armed forces, security forces and Fascist militia also conducted atrocities on par with their more talked about axis allies, and the less talked about atrocities of their enemies.
But the victors hold the trials to make their enemies pay for what they did while generally simultaneously sweeping under the rug their own atrocities, and Fascist Italy was one of the losers… so why were they not brought to trial at an ‘Italian Nuremberg’?
Well, let’s dive into it shall we?
And we will kick off by briefly dispelling the myth of the Italian soldier as the ‘chill’ member of the Axis club of uniformed baddies.
Fascist Crimes
At its inception, Italian Fascism did not put forth policies to radically eliminate entire ethnic or religious groups, deemed ‘undesirable’. Nonetheless, after gaining power in October 1922, Benito Mussolini’s regime pursued aggressive nationalist and expansionist policies. First with anti-insurgency actions in Libya, an Italian colony since 1911. Then, with the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Next, with the occupation of Albania in April 1939. To say nothing of the ongoing occupation of Eritrea and Somalia, under the Italian flag since the late 19th century.
