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Petra Terhoeven
Wedding rings for war – connotations in remembering fascism
Keywords: Italien, Frauen im italienischen Faschismus, faschistische Geschichtspolitik, Faschismus im kollektiven Gedächtnis, Eheringspende 1935
On December 18, 1935, millions of Italian couples exchanged their golden wedding rings for cheap imitations made from iron. After the Italian attack on Ethiopia, the League of Nations had imposed economic sanctions on the aggressor which seemed to justify extraordinary measures in financial policy. Yet, the increase in state revenue was only a secondary function of the “Day of the Wedding Ring”. First and foremost, the unity of the people and the fascist leadership was to be demonstrated by this significant sacrifice. The event was staged as a mystic communion of the donators with the fatherland at war. On the basis of retrospective memoirs by contemporary witnesses and their relatives, this essay investigates the consequences of fascist history policy. It becomes evident that the donation of wedding rings in 1935 has deeply marked the memories, especially of Italian women, until today. Although the event evokes negative memories in a great majority of the contemporaries, the really problematic facts that led up to the donation – i.e. the colonial war that was not in accordance with international law, as well as the generally criminal character of the conduct of this war – are completely blended out in the memoirs in question. The author interprets these findings as a result of a collective repression of memory which serves the need for meaningfulness felt by individuals, by families and by the whole nation, and which is therefore hard to break.
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag
Print ISSN: 0042-5702
Volume: 54, 01/2006
Pages: 61 - 85