The Failed Reconciliation: The Role of the Judiciary in Post-fascist Italy and the Togliatti Amnesty

Abstract

The 1946 could be seen as a watershed for the Italian transition. In that year the Amnesty issued by the communist Minister of Justice, and secretary of the Italian Communist Party, Palmiro Togliatti, represented a crucial passage towards a new pacific order. Not just because it took place few weeks after the proclamation of the Italian Republic, with the victory of the referendum of 2 June, but also for its general significance: to come to terms with the recent past for a country just sorted out from the war and the fascist regime. The paper focus on: (1) the failure of the purge phenomenon, especially concerning higher ranks of the judiciary involved with the dictatorship (Court of cassation, Appeal courts, Ministry of justice), which were implicated in the purge processes as judges and as defendants; (2) the transitional justice, implemented in 1944–1946 by the High Court of justice for Sanctions against Fascism and the Special Courts of Assize, that were special tribunals, but under the control of professional judges; (3) the wide application of amnesty to fascist collaborators and hierarchs. Finally, it will be stressed that transitional justice was an important but controversial moment on the road back to democratic life and the primacy of law in Italy.