Paolo Emilio Taviani - Resistance (1943-1945)

Resistance (1943-1945)

Already in secondary school Taviani joined the catholic group that was most sensitive to social issues. At university he became head of the Genoese branch of FUCI (Federazione Universitaria dei Cattolici Italiani). Following the Lateran Pacts, Taviani, a young man at the time, shared in the illusion that Fascism might one day evolve into a movement for social justice inspired by Catholic values. Consequently, at the age of 18 he joined the PNF. But the fascists’ belligerent policies and, above all, the racial laws of 1938 shattered that illusion. By the eve of the war, Taviani was firmly in the camp of the anti-fascists. On July 27, 1943 just before the fall of the regime, Taviani founded in Liguria the section of the “Partito-Cristiano-Sociale Democratico” (later the Christian Democrats, DC) bringing together young people from the Christian Social Movement with the older members of the Partito Popolare.

Immediately after September 8 (under the pseudonym of Riccardo Pittaluga) Taviani founded the Committee for National Liberation in Liguria (CLNL) as representative of the DC. His clandestine activities often brought him among the partisans in the mountains (it was in these years that he became close friends with the commanders Aldo Gastaldi, “Bisagno” and Aurelio Ferrando, “Scrivia”). Taviani maintained contacts with Allied military missions that had parachuted behind enemy lines. He was also editor of La Voce d’Italia a banned periodical published by the Resistance in Liguria. Within the CLNL Taviani often argued the need for a single military command that could effectively coordinate the efforts of volunteers from so many different political backgrounds.G. Gimelli, La Resistenza in Liguria, Roma: Carocci, 2005, pp. 651-652 On the night of April 23, 1945 the CLNL assumed the leadership of the insurrection in Genoa. On the evening of April 25 the German commander surrendered to representatives of the CLNL. The next morning it was Taviani who announced that the city had been liberated in a radio address broadcast by the BBC: “Genoa is free. People of Genoa, rejoice! For the first time in the history of this war a military unit has surrendered to the spontaneous forces of a people: the people of Genoa!”.M.E. Tonizzi (a cura di), «A wonderful job». Genova aprile 1945: insurrezione e liberazione, Roma: Carocci, 2006, pp. 52, 84-85, 92-93, 120, figg. 3, 14; C. Brizzolari, Un archivio della Resistenza in Liguria, Genova: Di Stefano, 1974, pp. 317-362. For his activity in the Resistance Taviani would later receive the Gold Medal for Merit in War in Italy, Gold medals for Merit in the United States and the Soviet Union, the title of Grand Official of the Légion d’Honneur in France. Taviani wrote about the Resistance in the Breve storia dell’insurrezione di Genova'>, in the collection of short stories Pittaluga Racconta as well as in dozens of articles. His early years in the Resistance marked Taviani’s entire political career.

From 1963 he was President of Italian Federation of Volunteers for Freedom (FIVL). In 1987 he was appointed President of the Historical Museum of the Liberation in Rome “Via Tasso”. Later, on April 25, 1994 he gave a passionate speech in defence of the values of the Resistance during a large demonstration which was strongly opposed by supporters of the Centre-Right coalition. In 2001 Taviani celebrated the first Memorial Day in Italy remembering the mass extermination of Jews at the “Via Tasso” Museum.