7 NOV 2013 at 5.00 PM
Venue: NGMA Auditorium,
National Gallery of Modern Art
Manikyavelu Mansion, 49, Palace Road, Bengaluru
On March 24, 1944, the Nazi occupying forces in Rome executed 335 men as retaliation for a partisan attack the day before. This massacre has acquired a symbolic stature, also because of the false memories that have accrued to it, blaming the freedom fighters rather than the Nazis.This lecture will discuss the history of the massacre, its symbolic significance to the historical image of Rome and relate it to the antifascist foundations of Italian democracy. Portelli will also discuss the controversies, myths and false tales that surround the memory of events.
Alessandro Portelli, renowned oral historian, writer and musicologist, retired as Professor of Anglo-American literature from the University of Rome La Sapienza. In 1972 Portelli founded the Circolo Gianni Bosio, an activist collective dedicated to studying folklore, oral history, and people's culture. His 1999 book The Order has been carried out was awarded the Oral History Association award and the Viareggio Prize.
