Radio War Nerd EP #231 — Annibale's Italy on the Eastern Front, Pt. 4: POWs in the USSR
Guest: Annibale
Recorded: May 27, 2020
Fourth in our series with popular RWN guest "Annibale" on Italy on the Eastern Front in WWII. This episode: the fate of Italian POWs taken by the Soviets after they smashed Italian and Axis lines in early 1943, and how the POWs influenced Italian postwar political culture.
First — We discuss the latest pandemic news from northern Italy with Annibale...
At 26:55 — We pick up where we last left off (RWN #228): early 1943, the Soviet Red Army takes tens of thousands of Italian soldiers prisoner. We discuss their grim fate in the Soviet camps, and how the nearly 95,000 MIAs influenced postwar Italy political culture. It's an important and complex story requiring two episodes, so we stop after Italy's infamous 1948 postwar elections, but the POW/MIA story for Italy remains relevant for decades to come...
Listen to Annibale's popular RWN series on Italy on the Eastern Front in WWII (#228, #227, #226).
Check out more Annibale series: Italy's Years Of Lead (#134, #135, #136, #139); Italian Resistance in WW2 (#131); The Hundred Years War(#175, #176, #177, #180, #182, #183); Venetian Empire (#207, #208, #209, #214).
Follow Annibale on Twitter.
Total time: 1:49:41
Comments (7)
I love Annibale episodes. I've gotten really into Italian electronic music and there's a track by Julian DJ & Davide Sonar called "Go go go" where the beat (h)its right after the words, "Let's get those POWs outta there!" Would (h)ave been perfect for this episode, (h)ah (h)ah. Save it for Annibale's next appearance 🇮🇹 🤙🏻
Thanks!
Great episode, like every other one that Annibale is involved in. He is truly a wealth of knowledge, and I especially love when he touches on the intersection of politics/war with culture and society. Loyal listener since the Years of Lead and just wanted to say thanks :-).
Thank you!
In Paulo Sorrentino's film, The Great Beauty, one of the characters makes a reference to Ethiopan Jazz being the best Jazz in Rome. Anibale mentioning the origin of the fascist song reminded me of it and now I'm wondering if it is related?
No relation, it was a joke Sorrentino played on ultra-snob people
Living in Ireland, I get some secondhand exposure to British POW narratives, and the predominant one that I remember is about attempts to escape from German POW camps in WWII, a great subject for heroic treatment in old comic books like The Victor or board games like Escape from Colditz.