Enzo Collotti: collective memory and democratic identity of Italy and Europe

Abstract

The essay traces Enzo Collotti’s reflections on the public memory of deportation and the Shoah at the juncture between the end of the «Short Century» and present times. The emphasis is on the difficulties arising from the «public use» of history in Europe under the banner of the erasure of the Nazi-fascist past and revisionism. At the same time, it focuses on the central role played by schools and universities in the transmission of a critical memory and historical knowledge among the new generations. A second strand focuses on the experience of the «Day of Remembrance» in Cagliari, in which he played a leading role.