The day began with mass celebrated in the prepositural church of San Vittore by the dean of Rho Don Fabio Vergawho in his homily recalled the need to always defend the dignity of man, to become builders of a new humanity and to listen to the cry of peace and the cry of the poor.
Two events in Piazza San Vittore: the presentation of the podcast “The days of resistance”, created based on an idea by Fabio Novelli from the Tourist Infopoint, and the ribbon cutting, in the presence of all the city’s police forces, of the exhibition “The Partisan Resistance. The other Resistance of the Military Internees” curated by ANPI Rho, exhibited all day next to the San Bookshop Victor.
Then, the procession opened by the Parish Citizen Musical Corps was formed. In front of the Guardia di Finanza barracks, formerly the Casa del Fascio, the scene of the torture of the martyrs of Robecchetto, a first stop, in memory of the partisans but also of the Italian military internees. At the central cemetery, stop at the Shrine of the Fallen and at the Shrine of the Partisans for the deposition of the wreaths brought by the young students of the Manzoni school. A third wreath was placed on the monument to those fallen for the Resistance and on the plaque dedicated to John Fish.
Another stop at the Alpini Monument, then a memory of Agostino Casati in the bay named after him. Mayor Andrea Orlandi wanted to pay homage to him by recalling his commitment to justice and democracy before and after 25 April 1945.
Shortly after 11, the students of the Anna Frank State Comprehensive Institute they sang the National Anthem and read the names of the fifty Rhodesian military internees, to whom the ANPI exhibition pays homage.
On stage, Marco Brando, president of the National Association of former Internees, recalled how this reality has recently been reborn: “About twenty years ago, registry issues had led the group to shut down. Today, children and grandchildren who appreciate what the IMI has done are returning to relaunch the values for which they stood against fascism and the Republic of Salò, accepting the consequences of deportation. Here in Rho we are experiencing our official debut with a freshly printed banner. Imagine if in one of the ongoing wars even just one hundred soldiers said I no longer obey, I no longer fight: the newspapers would make huge headlines from it. Even more so if there were a thousand or two thousand. In 1943 there were 650 thousand who refused to fight, accepting deportation to the concentration camps and probable death, which in fact occurred for 80 thousand of them. They were kids who grew up under the dictatorship and were able to say enough: let them be a lesson even today, against all dictatorships“.
Carmen Meloni, representative of ANED, the national association of former deportees to Nazi camps, released the letter written by the ANED national assembly on 14 April, launching the phrase “Hatred produces hatred, war a desire for revenge which risks having repercussions for generations.”
The president of ANPI RHO, Mario Anzani, declared that April 25th is a “ a precious celebration not only because it is an occasion of civil remembrance, but because it carries within itself a promise of liberation to continue to keep“.
“I would like – said Anzani – that on this April 25th the call for a “ceasefire” should be loudly raised in all the streets (in Gaza, in Ukraine, everywhere), because if the war is not stopped it tends to spread. To the partisan resistance fought in the mountains and in the cities we today associate the memory of the other resistance of the military internees who, captured by the Germans after 8 September 1943 and deported to the concentration camps of the Third Reich, chose imprisonment and forced labor over the lure of return home, placing himself at the service of the Social Republic established in Salò by Mussolini at Hitler’s disposal. A courageous choice, theirs, of great ethical and political value, which we intended to honor with the exhibition displayed in the square and with the brochure distributed at the ANPI banquet, accompanied by the list of 50 Rhodesian military internees”. Then the reference to the Constitution: “It is a precious legacy of the Resistance, it is our main path – said Anzani – In our Constitution, solidarity, social justice and human dignity are co-essential elements of democracy, which thus takes on a social dimension. Anti-fascism must be able to extend its commitment to preserving the concept of a society of the constituent fathers and mothers, a society that focuses its efforts on the repudiation of war, on health, education and work, that pursues equality and living conditions acceptable to all, “without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinions, personal and social conditions”, as required by article 3 of the Supreme Charter”.
The Mayor closed the official speeches Andrea Orlandi, who began by referring to the war we could find ourselves in today, with the expansion of ongoing conflicts. He recalled the “Mercy on Gaza“, the photo showing a 36-year-old Palestinian woman, crouched on the ground, as she holds close to her, almost cradling it, the body wrapped in a white shroud of her 5-year-old granddaughter who died in an attack in the Gaza Strip, together with her mother and to her sister while they were in their home. An image that tells of the horrors of war and encourages us to join Pope Francis’ cry for peaceful and respectful coexistence between peoples.
Orlandi relaunched the teachings of the Founding Fathers and the principles of the Constitution, recalling how 25 April 1945 represented the triumph and affirmation of the values of freedom, human dignity and democracy, until then debased and denied by the twenty-year fascist dictatorship.
A special thought was addressed to the Rhodesian Italian Military Internees, some of whose descendants were present in the square. Orlandi highlighted how IMI have chosen to be on the right side of history.
The mayor then remembered the deportees to the concentration camps and focused on the hundredth anniversary of the Matteotti crime: ANPI Rho will dedicate a visit to Fratta Polesine, the city of Giacomo Matteotti, on Sunday 26 May and in June a plaque will be placed in the street of the same name in the heart of Rho.
Orlandi urged to keep alive the memory of those who lost their lives for peace and democracy, including by exercising the right to vote in the next elections for the European Parliament. The passing of an ideal witness of the culture of remembrance to the children of the Anne Frank Institute, also through the podcast “The days of the Resistance”. Finally, the invitation to promote the values of anti-fascism and democracy.
