The Editors of the CEIWJ and Guest Editor Dr Sam Edwards are delighted to announce the publication of the eighth Issue of the CEIWJ for 2025, devoted to the topic “1945. Close Encounters Between War and Peace”.
The full Issue and single articles can be read online or downloaded from the
The Memo-AmIt project, realised by Dr Gianluca Cinelli and Dr Patrizia Piredda as a part of the MemoGen Project with the support of the Ragusa Foundation (New York), is collecting video interviews with Italian Americans born between 1965 and 1985, to understand how the legacy of the conflict has influenced the identity and self-perception of the Italian American community, how it has imprinted the narrative of the war within families and smaller communities, and how it has contributed to reshaping the perception of Italy in post-war America.
Italian American soldiers played a fundamental role in transforming the image of Italians in the United States. In addition, many Italian Americans could reconnect with their ancestral origins by fighting in Italy. Finally, the direct involvement of the second-generation Americans in the Vietnam War influenced the connection between the third generation and the Second World War.
People born approximately between 1965 and 1985 who identify as Italian Americans and want to participate as interviewees can visit the website of the Memo-AmIt project and get in touch with Dr Gianluca Cinelli (giancin77@yahoo.it) for further information.
The corpus of video interviews will constitute a relevant source for understanding Italian-American relations from 1945 to the present day. The interviews will explore themes such as the importance of grandparents’ legacy for personal development and moral education, immigration, integration, multiculturalism, ethical values, the role of education in the development of critical thinking, the damaging effects of propaganda and fake news, the perception of Italy and the legacy of other American wars (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan) and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Finally, the concepts of freedom and democracy as bridges between the past and present are explored.
Today, in the face of the international crisis that the Western world is experiencing, oral history focused on the topicality of the Second World War and its legacy can provide valuable insights to understand and re-evaluate the point of view of Italian Americans, their self-perception and the meaning of Italy in their cultural imagination. Recording video interviews will allow us to investigate a target group that scholars have not considered in previous oral history projects regarding the legacy of the Second World War. Memo-AmIt, therefore, represents an important step in the exploration of the cultural ties between Americans and Italians in relation to one of the major historical events of the twentieth century, which shaped the relations between the two countries and their cultures for decades.
New York, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute presents its exhibition designed by Polly Franchini Creativity and World War II Italian POWs in the United States, consisting of creative work made by Italian soldiers who were imprisoned by the Allied forces during World War II, with a focus on those held in the United States. These objects, often made from salvaged materials, ranged in size from a small inlaid ring to a large Catholic chapel
with a 65-foot bell tower. The exhibit is based on Dr. Laura E. Ruberto’s (Berkeley City College) research, including historical photographs, rare artefacts, written accounts, and oral testimonies. Dr. Ruberto co-curated the exhibition along with the Calandra Institute’s Dr. Joseph Sciorra.
On view Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. The Calandra Institute is located at 25 West 43rd St, 17th floor, in New York City
In the wake of recent studies about Italian participation in the Second World War, this volume fills a gap in historical knowledge by focusing on sources that have been neglected or at least not investigated thoroughly and systematically. These sources are diaries that Italian citizens with different social, professional and geographical backgrounds wrote between 25 July 1943 and the end of the war in the spring of 1945. The author analysed 90 diaries (out of 150 consulted) collected at the Archivio della scrittura popolare in Trento, the Archivio diaristico nazionale in Pieve Santo Stefano, and the Archivio Ligure della scrittura popolare in Genoa. The author chose to focus her investigation on diaries because “in a situation characterized by institutional uncertainties and historical unknowns, such as the one Italy faced between 1943 and 1945, feelings of incongruousness and confusion unsettled people’s usual understandings and disrupted their conventional patterns of interpretation and action” (p. 6). Therefore, the day-to-day practice of diary-writing permits her to observe the “ordinary” as it varies across generation, class, and gender and see through these “marginalised narratives” how “people’s interpretation of historical events from the standpoint of their everyday experience affected their responses to those same events and created new political sensibilities” (p. 28). To do that, the author refers to Raymond William’s analytical tool known as “structures of feeling”, a formula cast to convey the idea of the “felt sense of the quality of life” at a particular historical time (p. 4)…
Images of exuberant crowds gathering on VE Day and VJ Day from Piccadilly Circus in London to Times Square in New York City have long shaped collective memories of 1945 as the moment when evil totalitarian dictatorships were finally defeated. Thanks to the sacrifices of Allied soldiers and civilians in what has since become known as the “Good War” peace returned and democracy was re-established. It was all a marked difference to how the year had begun.
From the end of January 1945 onwards the discovery of Nazi extermination camps in Europe, most infamously at Auschwitz, exposed the full horror of the Holocaust. The U.S, British, and Soviet forces who liberated the camps found emaciated survivors, mass graves, gas chambers and laboratories for medical experiments on humans. In February, the Allied Strategic Bombing campaign against Germany reached its horrific crescendo when incendiary bombing killed tens of thousands in Dresden. And in eastern and central Europe civilians suffered enormously. It was estimated that on German territory alone some two million women and girls were raped. Many civilians decided to take their own lives to escape what they feared to be a more horrible fate.
Hitler’s suicide on 30th April and the fall of Berlin in early May heralded the German unconditional surrender. But in the Pacific Theatre the fighting continued. During the battle of Okinawa alone (April to June 1945) over 7,600 U.S. troops and some 42,000 civilians were killed in an operation intended to secure a base for what would likely be an even bloodier operation, the invasion of Japan itself. And here, too, Allied bombing exacted a destructive retribution on Imperial Japan: in Tokyo over 84,000 died in March as a consequence of firebombing, which left 16 square miles utterly destroyed. The two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August – acts which remain controversial and much debated – likewise caused enormous death and devastation, but they also accelerated Japan’s surrender and the end of the hostilities globally.
Even as the final Allied victory approached, new challenges emerged. In February 1945, at Yalta in Crimea, the ”Big Three” – Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin – outlined plans for the division of Germany, for the payment of reparations, and for Soviet participation in the war on the Pacific Front. And in July, the Potsdam conference saw the hardening of tensions among and between the Allies so that by 1946 the early outlines of what would become a Cold War between East and West had already started to emerge.
The monumental historiography generated by this conflict has reflected the political and cultural divisions between the belligerents and it has highlighted the troubled and divided memories that exist within participant nations. The earliest comprehensive histories of the Second World War emerged from the field of international relations, and they emphasize the political dimensions of the conflict with a strong focus on strategy and military concerns (e.g., Churchill 1948, Liddell Hart 1970, Calvocoressi and Wint 1972, Taylor 1961). Broader surveys surfaced in the 1980s and 1990s, which looked at themes such as life on the home front and the socio-economic dynamics of total mobilization, including cultural transformations (Keegan 1989, Willmott 1989, Kitchen 1990, Parker 1990, Ellis 1990). Today, scholars tend to integrate local and regional perspectives into overarching narratives (Knapp & Baldoli 2012, Bourque 2019). New sub-disciplines such as diplomatic history and the history of intelligence have helped shed light on some critical aspects such as the Soviet Union’s role in the Axis’ defeat (Beevor 1999, Overy 2012), whereas memory studies and oral history have helped look more closely at people’s experiences (Terkel 1984, Berger Gluck 1987, Summerfield 1998, Dodd 2023).
Issue n. 8 of the CEIWJ aims to investigate the close encounters that occurred in 1945 between war and peace, between civilians and combatants, between the personal and the political, and between past, present, and future. Dr Sam Edwards will join the editorial team as guest editor.
To do so, we invite the submission of articles focused on the investigation of 1945 from a broad spectrum of theoretical and critical perspectives in the fields of Comparative Literature, Cultural History, Ethics, Epistemology, Ethnology, Gender Studies, History of Art, History of Ideas, Linguistics, Memory Studies, Modern Languages, Oral History, Philosophy of Language, Postcolonial Studies, Psychology, Religion, Social Sciences, and Trauma Studies.
We invite, per the scientific purpose of the journal, contributions that focus on human dimensions and perspectives on this topic. The following aspects (among others) may be considered:
CEIWJ encourages inter/multidisciplinary approaches and dialogue among different scientific fields to promote discussion and scholarly research. The blending of different approaches will be warmly welcomed. Contributions from established scholars, early-career researchers, doctoral students, and practitioners who have dealt with or used personal narratives in the course of their activities will be considered. Case studies that include different geographic areas and non-Western contexts are warmly welcome.
The editors of the Close Encounters in War Journal invite the submission of abstracts of 250 words in English by 31 March 2025 to ceiwj@nutorevelli.org. The authors invited to submit their works will be required to send articles of 8,000-10,000 words (endnotes included, bibliographical references not included in word count), in English by 1 June 2025. All articles will undergo a process of double-blind peer review. We will notify you of the results of the review in September 2025. Final versions of revised articles will be submitted in November 2025. Please see the submission guidelines at: https://closeencountersinwar.org/instruction-for-authors-submissions/.
Private Thayer Greene had just turned 19 when he entered the city of Nordhausen as his regiment’s lead scout. It was 11th April 1945. He had already experienced the terror of enemy soldiers shooting at him, and on this day he would witness the horror of mass murder.
He expected to get machine-gunned at any moment. As he carefully entered the city, he saw a man coming toward him in a uniform he didn’t recognize. He raised his rifle, but lowered it after seeing no weapon. The man, a walking skeleton, approached, fell to his knees and kissed Greene’s feet. “Freiheit! Freiheit! Freiheit!” he cried. That’s German for “Freedom!”
Greene had stumbled on the site of a concentration camp that had been abandoned by German soldiers as the Allies advanced. At the time, American soldiers knew nothing about the camps that the Nazis had created all over Europe. When he died in 2022 at the age of 95, Thayer Greene was one of the last living liberators of concentration camps. When his fellow soldiers entered the camp at Nordhausen in central Germany, they encountered an estimated 1,300 bodies of prisoners who had been shot or starved to death…
“War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” is a compelling personal narrative that offers an intimate glimpse into the life and experiences of Michael John Warrington Rogers during World War II. Spanning from the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, to the end of 1945 and the dropping of the atomic bombs, War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers entries chronicle the daily realities of war, from the grand strategic movements of the Allied forces to the personal struggles and moments of respite that defined his existence.
Through Mike Rogers’ eyes, readers are transported to the front lines of pivotal events such as the Dunkirk Evacuations, The Blitz and later in the War, the Battle of Normandy, the liberation of Paris, and the harrowing Battle of the Bulge. His reflections on the relentless V2 bombings and the bold, albeit ultimately unsuccessful, German Operations provide a vivid account of the war’s impact on civilians.
The accompanying website, www.wardiaryonline.com, serves as a digital archive and interactive platform where readers can explore additional content, including photographs, historical documents, and detailed maps. The website also invites contributions from those with connections to the events described, enriching the narrative with personal stories and memorabilia.
“War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” is more than just a historical document; it is a testament to the resilience and determination of individuals facing extraordinary circumstances. Through Mike Rogers’ detailed and poignant entries, “War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” offers a powerful and personal perspective on World War II, making it an essential addition to the study of personal narratives in wartime history.
“War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” stands out for its raw, unfiltered portrayal of wartime life. The War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers project not only preserves the legacy of those who lived through these tumultuous times but also provides invaluable insights into the human condition under the pressures of war.
On Saturday 16 October 1943, the largest single round-up and deportation of Jews from Italy happened. The Germans arrested 1259 people in the Roman ghetto and deported them to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only 16 survivors, among which one woman, returned after the war.
Mara Josi investigates how 16 ottobre 1943 by Giacomo Debenedetti, La Storia by Elsa Morante, La parola ebreo by Rosetta Loy, and Portico d’Ottavia 13 by Anna Foa have handed down the legacy of the Roman round-up over eighty years.
Up to 70,000 Italians fell victim to the German occupation of Italy in the Second World War. More than 10,000 were killed by German troops in massacres and mass executions. Starting on 4 May 2023, texts, photos, biographies of perpetrators, reconstructions of massacres, case studies, and videos on this dark chapter in the history of Germany and Italy will be available at www.ns-taeter-italien.org.
The website was developed in the framework of a project about German massacres in Italy during the Second World War (NS-Täter. Le stragi naziste nell’Italia occupata, 1943-1945 / NS-Täter. Die Massaker im besetzten Italien in der Erinnerung der Täter, 1943-1945), and designed in cooperation with the Berlin-based Lime Flavour agency. From its inception in August 2019, the project has been supported by the German Federal Foreign Office in the framework of the German-Italian Future Fund. Based at the Martin Buber Institute of Jewish Studies (University of Cologne), the project is directed by historian Carlo Gentile in collaboration with journalist Udo Gümpel, and the participation of the Fondazione Scuola di Pace di Monte Sole, and the theatre company Archivio Zeta. At present, the website is accessible in Italian and German but an English version will be soon available for the benefit of the broader public worldwide.
The project addresses different audiences including the general public, educational institutions, memorial sites, and museums. The perpetrators stand at the centre of the historical inquiry: What mentality and psychological dispositions imprinted their actions? What were their social-biographical backgrounds? What room for decision and action was at their disposal? What patterns of legitimation can be identified in their narratives?
The website hosts well-documented historical reconstructions of the Nazi massacres in Italy between 1943 and 1945, based on documentation extracted from forty archives in Germany, Italy, Austria, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. Such materials include ego-documents, records from the wartime and post-war periods, video recordings, and photos. The digitalisation of the sources is in progress. However, a part of the collection is already available online from the research database Invenio of the German Bundesarchiv. The website is divided into 5 sections:
The Allied armies fighting in the Second World War were an international and transcultural aggregation of Western, African, Southern American, and Asian soldiers. The main reason for the intercultural diversity in the French and British armies consisted of the extensive deployment of colonial troops on several fronts, from Europe to the Pacific, in the air and on the sea. Unlike their European Allies, the United States did not rely on a colonial empire and had only American troops to deploy in the war. However, the American armed forces were the mirror of American society, which included a variety of ethnic and cultural communities. The book Soldati e patrie (Soldiers and Fatherlands) offers remarkable insight into one particular aspect of this phenomenon, namely the presence of the Italians in the Allied armies, with a focus on the US Army.
Close Encounters in War 