THE ITALIAN RESISTANCE MOVEMENT AGAINST NAZIFASCISM: CONTEXT, ORIGINS, SOVIET PARTICIPANTS

Abstract

The Italian Resistance movement as a phenomenon of World War II arose during the fall of Mussolini's regime in response to the subsequent invasion of the Italian Peninsula by Nazi Germany, as well as the gradual advance of the Anglo-American allies to the north of the peninsula after the landing in Sicily. Some former servicemen of the Royal Italian Army and representatives of the civilian population united in armed units based on their rejection of Nazifascism, an ideology characterized by the political and ideological rapprochement of fascism and Nazism that began in the 1930s. It was these units that Soviet people, mainly escaped prisoners of war and deserted eastern legionnaires, joined. In total, there were about 6,000 Soviet fighters in the ranks of the Resistance, i.e. about half of the foreign contingent of the Resistance, at least half a thousand people died. Many of them received awards from the Italian state