Rethinking Fascism: The Italian and German Dictatorships (Studies in Early Modern and Contemporary European History Book 4)

This book takes up the stimuli of new international historiography, albeit focusing mainly on the two regimes that undoubtedly provided the model for Fascist movements in Europe, namely the Italian and the German. Starting with a historiographical assessment of the international situation, vis-à-vis studies on Fascism and National Socialism, and then concentrate on certain aspects that are essential to any study of the two dictatorships, namely the complex relationships with their respective societies, the figures of the two dictators and the role of violence. This volume reaches beyond the time-frame encompassing Fascism and National Socialism experiences, directing the attention also toward the period subsequent to their demise. This is done in two ways. On the one hand, examining the uncomfortable architectural legacy left by dictatorships to the democratic societies that came after the war. On the other hand, the book addresses an issue that is very much alive both in the strictly historiographical and political science debate, that is to say, to what extent can the label of Fascism be used to identify political phenomena of these current times, such as movements and parties of the so-called populist and souverainist right. Contents 5 Introduction 7 I. Fascism and Nazism in a Transnational Key 19 German Historiography on National Socialism in Its Transnational Context 19 Roberta Pergher Italian Fascism in Transnational Historiography 39 II. “Volksgemeinschaft” and the Relationship between Italian Society and Fascism 67 From Debates on the Political Order to Visions of Community 67 Beyond Consensus: Rethinking Italian Fascism 79 III. The Dictators: Hitler and Mussolini 93 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini 93 Benito Mussolini: 100 Years on 113 Adolf Hitler 133 IV. Violence 157 “Spaces” of Violence 157 Fascist Violence. History and Historiography 169 V. Stone Fascism after the War 191 Obersalzberg and the Axis 191 Traces of Fascist Architecture in Republican Italy 231 Fascist Monuments on the Border. The Case of Bolzano/Bozen, South Tyrol 253 VI. The New Right and Fascism 283 “Sempre Presente?” 283 Old Ideologies and New Strategies. German Right-Wing Populism 303 CasaPound Italia and Forza Nuova. Back to the Future 323 Contributors 341