Drafts by Antonio Barocci
The San Sabba rice mill (lager in Italy) is a worthy topic of study first and foremost in the int... more The San Sabba rice mill (lager in Italy) is a worthy topic of study first and foremost in the interest of clarifying some uncertainties regarding the type of concentration camp it actually was. In addition, this study will help to improve understanding of the mechanism of Nazi extermination camps in general—how they were created and how they subsequently functioned. It will also examine a collateral issue: in studying the case of the San Sabba rice mill, it becomes very apparent how certain “professional skills” were developed and honed in the concentration camp system, generating a crew of experts not so much in killing as in “industrial” killing.
Crosscutting these aspects, the study is based on a two-pronged geographical analysis: how power uses geographical space to perpetuate itself; and how geographical tools can help us better understand the ways in which power employs force and violence in the pursuit of various aims. In this case, the aims are the elimination of the enemies to Nazi and Fascist power—the partisans—and the physical extermination of categories considered to be undesirable, such as the Jews, though not only these.
Papers by Antonio Barocci
Journal of Urban History
Between 1925 and 1928, a fundamental strategy of the Italian fascist regime was the imposition of... more Between 1925 and 1928, a fundamental strategy of the Italian fascist regime was the imposition of a political court, the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State [Tribunale Speciale per la Difesa dello Stato], to control its political enemies and the entire society. One unexplored aspect of the Special Tribunal was its use of long-term surveillance to monitor people brought before the court. Suspects were monitored for long periods even when found innocent or upon release from prison. Blending geographical and historical analysis, specifically HGIS (Historical Geographical Information System), this work contributes to highlight surveillance during the fascist regime, which was less brutal than others not because it was imperfect but because it was sophisticated. Thus, the article also contributes to the understanding of the nature of the Italian fascist regime in comparison to its contemporary counterparts.
Journal of Urban History, 2023
Between 1925 and 1928, a fundamental strategy of the Italian fascist regime was the imposition of... more Between 1925 and 1928, a fundamental strategy of the Italian fascist regime was the imposition of a political court, the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State [Tribunale Speciale per la Difesa dello Stato], to control its political enemies and the entire society. One unexplored aspect of the Special Tribunal was its use of long-term surveillance to monitor people brought before the court. Suspects were monitored for long periods even when found innocent or upon release from prison. Blending geographical and historical analysis, specifically HGIS (Historical Geographical Information System), this work contributes to highlight surveillance during the fascist regime, which was less brutal than others not because it was imperfect but because it was sophisticated. Thus, the article also contributes to the understanding of the nature of the Italian fascist regime in comparison to its contemporary counterparts.
vi 3.4 Methodology 3.5 Results: Women and Men Compared 3.6 Discussion 3.7 Conclusion Chapter Four... more vi 3.4 Methodology 3.5 Results: Women and Men Compared 3.6 Discussion 3.7 Conclusion Chapter Four The geography of surveillance. Spatial and temporal patterning of police surveillance following arrest in the first period of the fascist regime in Italy (1926−1928)
Journal of Historical Geography, 2022
This article analyzes the spatial and temporal patterning of political arrests during the initial... more This article analyzes the spatial and temporal patterning of political arrests during the initial years of the fascist regime in Italy, specifically from 1926 to 1928. During these crucial years, Italy's fascists acted rapidly to consolidate their power and to suppress their opponents. A key element of this takeover was the creation of a political court, the Special Tribunal. I examine the work of the Special Tribunal in two ways. First, I analyze the spatial patterning of political arrests on different scales, ranging from local to national. Second, using Agamben's concept of ‘states of exception’, I investigate how the fascists used political crises to further their activities of political suppression. I argue that while the Special Tribunal did target political enemies, it was also used as a sophisticated system of control of territory and population. Drawing on the techniques of the emerging field of historical geographic information systems (GIS), I use the Knox Index and hotspot analysis to focus on the role played by space and place in the fascist system of political oppression. This article contributes to a growing body of historical research focusing on the spatial dynamics of authoritarian regimes in interwar and wartime Europe and the geographies of their carceral practices.
GeoJournal, 2020
This article analyzes the spatial and temporal patterning of women’s arrests for political crimes... more This article analyzes the spatial and temporal patterning of women’s arrests for political crimes during the first period of the fascist regime in Italy from 1925 to 1927. A key element of the fascist dictatorship was the creation of the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State. A focus on the Special Tribunal opens a window on the fascist gender political because this court focused exclusively on political crimes. Using archival data and spatiotemporal analytic techniques this research indicates a complex pattern. Women were arrested at far lower rates than men with very little spatial clustering. Also, the cases of arrested women were dismissed or transferred to the ordinary criminal courts at a much higher rate than those of their male counterparts. Overall, the Special Tribunal seems to have been more lenient with women than with men, although those women whose cases remained in the tribunal seem to have been treated much like the men in terms of sentencing and incarceration. Women and men were both subjected to long periods of surveillance after they were released from court or prison. Once arrested, both women and men might spend many years in prison, exile, or under surveillance irrespective of whether they were judged innocent or guilty. This was an important moment for Western history because this new model of society and state has been consequences also in others totalitarianism raising questions about the treatment of women in other authoritarian regimes in twentieth century Europe and beyond.
Noi dei Lager, 2019
San Sabba è un piccolo luogo, in una terra di confine, storicamente sempre contesa e contestata, ... more San Sabba è un piccolo luogo, in una terra di confine, storicamente sempre contesa e contestata, una terra di mezzo come sono spesso i luoghi di frontiera, ma che costituisce un unicum nella storia delle stragi e dei campi di sterminio nazi-fasciste durante la seconda guerra mondiale. A Trieste, con la Risiera di San Sabba, si realizzò quello che non fu possibile realizzare nel resto del territorio italiano: la costruzione di un piccolo campo di sterminio.
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Drafts by Antonio Barocci
Crosscutting these aspects, the study is based on a two-pronged geographical analysis: how power uses geographical space to perpetuate itself; and how geographical tools can help us better understand the ways in which power employs force and violence in the pursuit of various aims. In this case, the aims are the elimination of the enemies to Nazi and Fascist power—the partisans—and the physical extermination of categories considered to be undesirable, such as the Jews, though not only these.
Papers by Antonio Barocci
Crosscutting these aspects, the study is based on a two-pronged geographical analysis: how power uses geographical space to perpetuate itself; and how geographical tools can help us better understand the ways in which power employs force and violence in the pursuit of various aims. In this case, the aims are the elimination of the enemies to Nazi and Fascist power—the partisans—and the physical extermination of categories considered to be undesirable, such as the Jews, though not only these.