Rosario Bentivegna (22 June 1922 – 2 April 2012) was an Italian

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

and doctor. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, while studying medicine at university, Bentivegna joined the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

and became an active member of the guerilla groups organized by the following the occupation of Italy by Nazi Germany. Under the codename "Paolo", he was one of the principle actors of the

Via Rasella attack The Via Rasella attack ( it, attacco di via Rasella) was an action taken by the Italian resistance movement against the Nazi German occupation forces in Rome, Italy, on 23 March 1944. Location Via Rasella is located in the centre of the city ...

that killed 32 soldiers of the

SS Police Regiment Bozen Polizeiregiment "Südtirol" (Police Regiment "South Tyrol"), later ''Bolzano, Bozen'', and finally SS-Polizeiregiment "Bozen", was a military unit of the German ("Order Police") recruited in the largely ethnic-German South Tyrol, Alto Adige regi ...

. After the war, Bentivegna remained a member of the Communist Party and married fellow Italian partisan Carla Capponi, who together promoted their party and the actions of the

Italian resistance movement The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

Political and partisan activities

According to his own memoirs, Bentivegna became an

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

in 1937 following the introduction of anti-Semitic propaganda and racist legislation in Italy. Bentivegna co-founded the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

Group for Marxist Unification (GUM, Gruppo di Unificazione Marxista) in 1939 with Corrado Nourian and Nino Baldini. While enrolled at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

for his medical studies, however, he was a member of the Fascist University Groups (GUFs). On 23 June 1941, Bentivegna participated in a demonstration of some three to four thousand other university students against the repeal of legislation preventing students in good academic standing from being drafted into the military. His ideology and participation in the demonstrations brought him to the attention of the Italian secret police, who arrested him. Bentivenga was released in 1943, albeit with a warning from the police, by the intercession of a friend, the son of

Guido Leto Guido Leto (Palermo, 1895 – 1956) was an Italian police official, head of the OVRA, the secret police of the Fascist regime, from 1938 to 1945. Throughout his career as a policeman he served under the Kingdom of Italy, the Italian Social Rep ...

, the head of the secret police. That same year, Bentivegna joined the

, but as a result of his Trotskyist leanings and relationship with Leto, he was not trusted by the Party leadership.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentivegna, Rosario 1922 births Physicians from Rome 2012 deaths Italian Communist Party politicians Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the Bronze Medal of Military Valor

Political and partisan activities

See also

Citations

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