WWII Liberation Day on April 25
means "freedom for all Italian citizens," President Sergio
Mattarella said Friday.
Liberation Day, which marks the day in 1945 when Italy was
freed from Nazi-Fascist rule, "is a celebration of freedom and
hope" and a "reminder of sacrifice", he said.
"The Italian Resistance showed the world the Italians' will
for redemption, after years of dictatorship," Mattarella added
in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper editor Ezio Mauro.
He added that although "there is no longer the need to
regain the values of freedom, democracy, social justice", the
right to democracy is "the entire country's heritage" and "it
must be defended every day".
The president suggested that the term "resistant" apply to
the military who refused to enlist in Fascist brigades and all
persons who aided Jews, military allies, along with partisan"
A postwar tradition has seen Liberation Day as celebrating
the moment when a divided Italy rallied behind Resistance
leaders to raise the country from the ashes of Fascism and
recover a patriotic honour forged in the 19th-centry unification
of Italy, the Risorgimento.
Mattarella commented that the Fosse Ardeatine site, a
commemoration to 335 Romans killed by Nazis in 1944, was a
reminder "that we can never let our guard down on strenuous
defense of human rights, on the democratic system".
The date of Liberation Day was chosen by convention, as it
corresponds to the day Milan and Turin were liberated by the
Americans, on April 25, 1945.
This was also the day when the National Liberation
Committee of Upper Italy (CLNAI) officially proclaimed the
insurgency in a radio announcement, announcing the seizure of
power by the CLNAI and the death sentence for all Fascists
(including Benito Mussolini, who was shot three days later).
By May 1, all of northern Italy was liberated, including
Bologna (April 21), Genoa (April 23), and Venice (April 28).
The liberation put an end to twenty years of fascist
dictatorship and five years of war.
It symbolically represents the beginning of the historical
journey which led to the referendum of June 2, 1946, when
Italians opted for an end to the monarchy and the creation of
the Italian Republic, which was followed by the adoption of the
republic's Constitution of Italy in 1947.
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