fascism

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  1/23/2023
  

  The Real Story of "Casablanca" Was the Refugees

  At its 80th anniversary, it's appropriate to honor the classic film by focusing on the waves of Europeans fleeing Nazi persecution and working to fight back. 

• 
• 1/22/2023
  

  The Pope at War: Pius XII and the Vatican's Secret Archives

  by James Thornton Harris

  David Kertzer's book argues that defenders of Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust mistake his defense of the prerogatives of the Catholic Church for a defense of the victims of Nazi persecution and genocide. 

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• 12/18/2022
  

  Mussolini in Myth and Memory

  by Paul Corner

  Italians' recollection of Mussolini and the Fascist regime embody the replacement of historical memory with national mythology—a mythology that dismisses both the violence of the dictatorship and Italians' collective responsibility for it and enables the resurgence of the far right today.

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• SOURCE: Lucid (Substack)
  12/7/2022
  

  What, Exactly, Is Fascism?

  by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

  Are you confused about the meaning of Fascism? If so, you're not alone. Benito Mussolini, the creator of Fascism, famously did not define it until 1932.

• 
• SOURCE: Boston Review
  11/21/2022
  

  Robin Kelley: Fascism Doesn't End Because People "Come to Their Senses"

  The historian discusses the ongoing threat of the antidemocratic far right, despite the failure of the "red wave" in the midterms, abetted by the willingness of many Democrats to cave to panics about crime. 

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• SOURCE: WBUR
  11/17/2022
  

  Boston's Role in the Antisemitic Right of the 1930s and 1940s

  Professor Charles Gallagher discusses the Christian Front, a local branch of followers of Father Charles Coughlin, that pushed a variety of antisemitic and nativist political positions in Boston between the World Wars. 

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• SOURCE: Substack
  11/4/2022
  

  The Fascism Debate is Over; Fascism Won

  by Jonathan M. Katz

  Academic hair-splitting about the applicability of the F-word to the MAGA phenomenon has not served the cause of democracy well. 

• 
• SOURCE: MSNBC
  11/7/2022
  

  Beschloss, Ben-Ghiat on the Stakes of the Midterms

  NBC Presidential Historian Michael Beschloss and NYU History Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat discuss the concept of fascism and the danger facing the U.S with American Voices host Alicia Menendez. 

• 
• 10/30/2022
  

  The US Response to the Holocaust Was Part of a Longer Pattern of Appeasing Fascism

  by Roger Peace

  The Roosevelt administration's refusal to accept large numbers of Jewish refugees was of a piece with a pattern of diplomatic and economic solicitousness toward Nazi Germany. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/25/2022
  

  A Pro-Nazi Camp Run by the German American Bund Subject of New Play

  The Long Island town of Yaphank was eager to erase the memory of Camp Siegfried, which closed after the American entry into World War II. Playwright Bess Wohl wants to use it as a warning about the seductive potential of ideology. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  10/27/2022
  

  Spain's New Citizenship Law for Exiles from Franco Portends Massive Return from Latin America

  Between the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the dicatorship in 1978, an estimated 2 million Spaniards fled political persecution by leaving the country. 

• 
• SOURCE: Saturday Evening Post
  10/10/2022
  

  Journalist Dorothy Thompson's Warnings About Fascism – Abroad and at Home

  by Ben Railton

  After being expelled as a journalist from Germany for criticizing Hitler, Dorothy Thompson worked to make clear to Americans what fascist movements stood for and how they could take root in the soil of racism and nativism here. 

• 
• SOURCE: Substack
  10/5/2022
  

  Fascists' PR Plan? Distance from Associations with Jewish Genocide

  by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

  Despite the efforts of denialists, the Holocaust remains a significant obstable to public acceptance of fascism. Contemporary far-right politicians have adopted the position that genocide was a step too far beyond an otherwise good ideology. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/27/2022
  

  The "Stolen Babies" of Fascist Spain Seek the Truth

  Some estimate that tens of thousands of babies were taken from poor mothers and secretly sold to elite Catholic families, with compliant government officials providing documentary cover. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  9/27/2022
  

  There Are Two Ways America Can Go After January 6

  by Thomas Zimmer

  In some respects, the January 6 attack resembles the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. What should concern us is what could happen if the Justice Department decides to give similarly lenient treatment to the Capitol conspirators and their leader. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/26/2022
  

  Do the Italian Elections Reflect a Turn to Fascism or Cynicism?

  Giorgio Meloni's electoral success may simply reflect Italians' frustrations with national leadership more than a permanent shift, argues political analyst Yascha Mounk. 

• 
• SOURCE: Al Jazeera
  9/24/2022
  

  What Explains Fascism's Durable Roots in Italy?

  The success of a party with historical connections to fascists who survived the Second World War raises important questions about why Italians justify voting for the hard right. 

• 
• 9/18/2022
  

  El Caudillo: Colonialist Violence and the Rise of Francisco Franco

  by Giles Tremlet

  A new book on Spanish history includes an examination of the influence of colonialism and conservative Catholicism on the authoritarian worldview and political ruthlessness of Francisco Franco. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  9/1/2022
  

  Historically Speaking, Biden's "Semi-Fascist" Description of MAGA is Correct

  by Federico Finchelstein

  The global authoritarian movement, of which MAGA is a part, is becoming increasingly intolerant of democracy and committed to fighting imagined threats to the nation. It's an ominous direction that tracks with the past rise of fascist regimes. 

• 
• SOURCE: Talking Points Memo
  8/9/2022
  

  You Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, Gotta Hand it To America Firsters

  by Eric Rauchway

  Critics of American aid to Ukraine have misconstrued the history of FDR's "Lend-Lease" aid to Britain and the USSR as a factor that pushed the world into total war. It's worth considering the political affiliations of people who made that argument in 1941.