Asymmetrical Memorialization, 1944–Present. Via Rasella and Fosse Ardeatine

Golo Maurer

On March 23, 1944, Roman partisans launched an attack in Via Rasella that was answered by the German occupation forces the next day with the killing of 335 prisoners in the Fosse Ardeatine. These events have become icons of resistance and war crimes in the Italian collective memory. On the German side, however, both dates are known only to specialists. This asymmetry of remembrance – the fact that one side remembers while the other forgets – continues to characterize and burden Italian-German relations to this day. On the basis of these two events, as well as the aftermath (the Kappler case, the Priebke trial, etc.) that continues to the present day, the respective, heterogeneous images of history are to be analyzed and contrasted.