Contested memories and dark heritage: The case of the mass rape in Ciociaria

To fully understand the meaning of “dark heritage” it is not enough to admit the existence of a past that continues to tear apart a community, as it brought about elements that caused death and suffering (Carr, Corishley, 2015), but this past must also be analyzed within its own heritage process. For this to happen, the community involved should have recognized such past as an integral part of its historical and social identity. This, of course, is not an easy task since people are not always willing to relive a negative memory, which has caused pain and suffering. This phenomenon is even more evident for the divided memories, those anti-partisan memories, which were formed and consolidated in Italian communities tragically affected by massacres (Pezzino, 2002) carried out, at the time of the Second World War, by German and pro-fascist troops. One of these is the Marzabotto massacre. However, this sub-category known as “dark memory”, should be reviewed today in order to encompass also those episodes of massacres and violence, carried out at the time not by the Axis powers but by the Allied ones. This is the case of the marocchinate, a term used to indicate the mass rapes that took place in lower Lazio at the hands of French troops of the CEF (Corp d’Expedition Français). This tragedy (which accounts for 20,000 victims, including women, men and children) has been enclosed in the basement of history as an inconvenient and hidden truth way too long. Partly because of the stubborn and dignified silence that many victims imposed to themselves, and partly because it blurred the image of the winner. All that the local community has endured has been a double injustice: not only the collective rape, but also the subsequent oblivion and negligence, persisted over time, by national and local institutions. Today it is vital to understand if the community is willing to contrast this form of abandonment and to build heritage upon memory. This is an extremely delicate operation that necessarily requires intense field research. The aim of my research is to carry out semi-structured interviews and focus groups with the survivors or their closest relatives not only to reconstruct their personal experiences but also to understand whether it is appropriate or not to think of a process of valorizing the territory, in terms of a sensitive and aware tourism, aimed at preserving and passing on the memory of a mass rape as a warning for future generations.