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Caught between the fascism frying pan and the Nazi fire

Marco Balzano’s new novel, I’m Staying Here, now translated into English by Jill Foulston, vividly illustrates that competing ideologies and nationalisms may be all very well on a global stage, but it’s often the people on the ground who have to pay the price.

December 13, 2020 / 07:39 IST
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An obelisk to Benito Mussolini, also known as Dux, a controversial figure in the history of Italy, stands in Rome, Italy.
An obelisk to Benito Mussolini, also known as Dux, a controversial figure in the history of Italy, stands in Rome, Italy.

Among the most haunting views of Alpine landscapes in Italy’s South Tyrol are those of a half-submerged bell tower rising from the waters of Lake Resia. Though the bells themselves were removed decades ago, some locals whisper that on winter nights you can still hear them ringing out over the area.

This structure is the last remnant of the vanished village of Curon. Despite protests from inhabitants, it was flooded in the 1950s when the authorities went ahead with the construction of a dam that joined two adjacent lakes. Houses, churches and agricultural properties were razed, and only the tower now remains as a solitary witness.

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That isn’t the only noteworthy feature of the region. As Italian writer Marco Balzano notes, it is “the only place in Europe where fascism and Nazism followed one another without interruption.”

First, South Tyrol was annexed from the Austro-Hungarian empire by Italy after World War One; then, Mussolini’s government started an aggressive Italianisation of the area. Later, as part of the alliance between Mussolini and Hitler, the German-speaking population was given a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. They could leave their homeland and emigrate to Germany, or stay in Italy and embrace integration.