Dwindling Support of Fascism

Weakened Sentiment

This exhibit is particularly important because for decades, Italian Americans had faced shame from being Italian and saw the new government under Mussolini as a reason to be proud of their homeland, which suddenly established itself as a world power in Europe. However, given the decisions Mussolini made to invade Ethiopia, declare war against America and to ally with Nazi Germany, the sentiment shifted once again and the Italian pride decayed into shame. We aim to explore this often forgotten or unspoken loss of morale to bring light on the rollercoaster of emotions pertaining to identity and nationality that Italians experienced around World War II.

Many Italians feared being caught speaking Italian in public and those who were not yet citizens were subject to special restrictions, which we will cover later in this exhibit. These impositions on Italian Americans along with pressure to support their America by fighting in war and providing other support led to conflicting feelings, drawn out over the past decade. 

However, even before war was declared on America in 1941, support for Mussolini’s Fascist regime dwindled as he made consequential decisions to invade Ethiopia, ally with Hitler and Nazi Germany, and discriminate against Jews. Italians were caught in the middle of wanting to support America, their new home, while still retaining their allegiance to the motherland. Nonetheless, the war progressed and as Italian forces weakened, so did the support for Fascism and Mussolini.