How to Save a Life: Humanitarian Resistance in Europe During the Second World War, the Dawn of a New Historiographical Category?

Abstract

In the last few decades, scholars have shown an increasing interest in unarmed Resistance and the role of civilians during the Second World War. If early studies on the Resistance initially promoted a unified narration (often warlike and even sexist), subsequent studies have widened the analysis. To the point that today, we can speak not of ‘a’ Resistance or ‘the’ Resistance but rather ‘Resistances’ in the plural form. Since the 1970s, studies and even public commemorations have put new emphasis on the plurality of the Resistance, beginning with women's participation in it. More recently, the concept of humanitarian Resistance (defined as acts characterized by spontaneity and the humanitarian nature of their objectives, which were detached from an overall political aim) has seen a revival in Italy, especially connected to the historiography concerning the region of Abruzzo during the Second World War. This was an area where, because of its proximity to the frontline and the presence of multiple fascist PoW camps, the influx of escaped Allied PoWs was massive, and the local population played a crucial role in their survival and escape. This article asks whether this new category can be useful in analysing Resistance to Nazi-Fascism and how we can apply it to further our understanding of Resistance as a European phenomenon.