The Incredible Female Italian Partisans
The freedom fighters who are less remembered
As a screenwriter, I am especially fascinated by forgotten history. The story of the female Italian Partisans is one that inspires me and shakes me to my core.
Walking around Torino, I often see large plaques commemorating the streets where brave Partisans lost their lives. Male and female Partisans.
However, when fascism was finally defeated, many female Partisans were never recognized. As they marched in victory parades, many were jeered at. Some were called whores.
These women fought not just for freedom from the Germans, or emancipation from homegrown Fascism. They fought for female equality, a battle that is still being fought today.
While researching this topic, I saw many disclaimers that read: women rarely used weapons. But then I remember Carla Capponi, who tracked a German police officer, shot him point blank in the head, and stole his important dispatch book (to read more…).
The truth is, women put their lives at risk for acts as small as documenting anti-fascist sentiments. Whether they were blowing up a bridge to prevent Nazi progression, yielding a machine gun, transporting weapons or information, every act of resistance meant the same thing: gruesome torture and…
