Italy’s WWII History and its Narratives
Being initially aligned with Nazi Germany and acting as an occupying force itself, Italy underwent a 180° turn after Mussolini’s regime fell in 1943: The country was subsequently occupied by Nazi Germany as well as national resistance movements. This complex history has been wrapped in various narratives to serve differing purposes.
Despite the broad public support of Mussolini at the time of his ruling, one of the most prominent narratives has been that of “Italians, the good people.” Here, Italians are framed as reluctant participant in the horrors of the Holocaust, who did not internalize its hateful ideologies and frequently protected its victims.
Another similar narrative pertains to WWII, which is portrayed as an Antifascist war of national liberation. After 1943, Italians were lacking sources of national identification. Thus, the governing Antifascist parties positioned the Italian people as their on national heroes who fought their foreign fascist oppressor in the resistance movement — “La Resistenza”. While this movement was geographically limited to the northern regions and mainly part of an intra-Italian conflict, it was elevated to a national identifier with its own national holiday, the “Day of Liberation” on April 25. Most significantly, Antifascism became a foundational principle of the Republic, even being anchored in its Constitution.
While an amnesty for all political crimes in 1946 and general economic growth in the post-war years led to relative social stability, violence and national division returned to the surface of Italy’s social fabric. In the late 1960s started what came to be called the “years of led”, which were marked by extreme and enduring civil violence. Though the radicalism of this time diminished with Berlusconi’s office in the early 1980s, its scars remain.
Investigating Public Perception of Historical Narratives
To understand the prevalence of these narratives and their underlying dynamics more deeply, Vukovic, Bastaroli and Kritzinger (2025) apply Caramani and Manucci’s (2019) typology of historical perceptions to the individual level using unique survey data collected in 2019 and 2022. The typology includes four categories:
1. Culpabilization: Responsibility for past atrocities committed by the country’s regime is assumed
2. Heroization: Notion that the respective country tried to fight off any Fascist tendencies
3. Victimization: Denying responsibility for Fascist past and seeing country as mere victim instead
4. Cancellation: Erasing any link to country’s problematic past
These categories were operationalized in four survey items which participants were asked to (dis)agree to on a 10-point scale:
o “Italians share responsibility for the crimes of the Second World War”
o “Italy was liberated by the Allies in 1943-1945”
o “Many Italians profited from the murder of the Jews”
o “The discussion about the Second World War and the Holocaust should come to an end”
Further, the authors analyzed the categories’ relation to socio-economic and attitudinal factors, as well as possible changes over time.
The survey’s results show a complex and diverse picture: Generally, as Vukovic, Bastaroli and Kritzinger (2025) outline, the majority of participants oppose Cancellation and recognize Italy’s responsibility. The data showed that mechanisms of both Culpabilization and Victimization are widely present with 56,4% agreeing that Italy bears responsibility and almost 80% of respondents agreeing that Italy was liberated in 1943. However, this view is not unitary. For instance, 29% of respondents agreed somewhat or even completely, that the discussion about the Second World War should come to an end. Further, some signs of Heroization can also be observed: 24% at least somewhat disagreed that Italians benefited from the Holocaust. Interestingly, these findings seem to be fairly stable over time, showing only a small decrease in the perception of responsibility and almost no changes in attitudes toward Cancellation in 2022.
Perceptions Across Age, Ideology and Political Authoritarianism
When comparing the results across five age groups, the authors only found slight variations. Firstly, younger cohorts showed greater perceptions of responsibility. Secondly, Heroization was observed less prominently in the oldest cohort with 53,4% of those aged 60 years and older compared to 38,12% in the youngest cohort agreeing — somewhat — that Italians benefited. This discrepancy might be explained by older generations having a better understanding of the war’s complexities. Lastly, Vukovic, Bastaroli and Kritzinger (2025) note that there does not seem to be one decisive perception across age groups.
When compared across three ideological groups (left, center, and right) a clear division could be observed regarding Cancellation, with those on the right of the ideological spectrum supporting an end of discussion and those on the left opposing it. Further, Culpabilization was present in individuals of all ideologies, but slightly stronger on the left with 77% recognizing Italy’s responsibility.
Additionally, the authors show a link between levels of authoritarianism and perceptions of history. While the assumption of responsibility was generally widely shared among the population, those scoring more highly in authoritarian views were less likely to agree that Italians share responsibility in the war. Additionally. individuals with low authoritarian attitudes supported Cancellation the least. In contrast, there is no clear pattern between levels of authoritarianism and the tendency to frame history in terms of victimization or heroization.
The Bigger Picture
In sum, Vukovic, Bastaroli and Kritzinger (2025) reveal a divided landscape of historical perceptions. Mainly, Italians seem to be unsure whether they were the perpetrator or the victim as evident in the high support for both Culpabilization and Victimization. While some view their ancestors as heroes, a large portion of respondents are ambivalent toward this narrative. Meanwhile, Cancellation is supported only by a quarter of Italians. However, the presence of all four dimensions in citizens’ perceptions shows the lack of a unifying memory regarding Italy’s Fascist past, which can be traced back to its fragmented history. Interestingly, Interestingly, a subset of the historical perceptions originally measured in 2019 was revisited in the 2022 cross-sectional survey, showing relative stability in these narratives over time.
References
Caramani, D., & Manucci, L. (2019). National past and populism: the re-elaboration of fascism and its impact on right-wing populism in Western Europe. West European Politics, 42(6), 1159–1187. doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2019.1596690
Vuković, M., Bastaroli, S., and Kritzinger, S. (2025). Reckoning with the Past: Victims, Heroes, or Perpetrators? Italians’ Perceptions of WWII History. In Authoritarian Trends and Parliamentary Democracy in Europe, Eds. O. Rathkolb and S. Steinbacher. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag.
Winfield, N. (2023, March 24). Italy partisans criticize Meloni over Nazi massacre comment | AP News. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/italy-fascism-meloni-world-war-ii-resistance-50fbe65ab8629bb78660e319524d3434/gallery/f6834839c97e4a7a8a4f610eacac14d9
