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Education in Ethiopia during the Italian Fascist Occupation (1936-1941)
Author(s): Richard Pankhurst

Source: The International Journal of African Historical Studies , 1972, Vol. 5, No. 3
(1972), pp. 361-396
Published by: Boston University African Studies Center
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/217091
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EDUCATION IN ETHIOPIA DURING THE
ITALIAN FASCIST OCCUPATION (1936-1941)
Richard Pankhurst
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, the greatest colonial war ever fought on

the African, continent, was followed by five years of Italian fascist occu-
pation. This relatively brief period, a turning point in the country's
millennium-old history, brought the prewar attempts at the introduction
of modern schooling to an end, and for this and other reasons constituted
a fairly negative chapter in the history of Ethiopian education. The edu-
cational events and policies of this period were nonetheless of consider-
able significance, and are of interest in the wider history of African
education, for the avowedly racist and militaristic educational philosophy
of fascist Italy stands in marked contrast to the policies of the more
important colonial powers in Africa.
Traditional education in Ethiopia prior to, the invasion had been in the
hands of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, although European missionaries
in the nineteenth and early tmentieth centuries had taken a number of
young Ethiopians abroad for study. Emperor Menelik (1865-1913) had
also sent several students to Europe for education, and with a view to
modernizing the country had in 1908 founded Addis Ababa's first modern
school, the Menelik II School, while his cousin Ras Makonnen, the gov-
ernor of Harar, had established another in that city. This initiative had
been followed and extended by Emperor Haile Sellassie, who dispatched
several hundred young men and women for study in foreign lands, estab-
lished the Ethiopian capital's second modern educational institution, the
Tafari Makonnen School, in 1925, and the first school for girls, the
Empress Menen School, in 1931. He also set up several other schools,
among them a technical school, a teachers' training school, a school for
orphans, a school of art, and a boy scouts' school, besides provincial
schools at Dessie, Gore, Jigjiga, Lekempti, Harar, Asba Tafari, Ambo,
The International Journal of African Historical Studies, v, 3 (1972) 361

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362 RICHARD PANKHURST
Jimma, Gondar, Debra Markos, Adowa, Makale, and Selale.1 The three
decades or so prior to the Italian war had thus witnessed significant edu-
cational strides which were primarily designed to equip a growing num-
ber of Ethiopian government officials with the skills required both for
the preservation of the country's independence and for the all-important
task of modernization.2
Education in Eritrea, the Italian colony from which Mussolini was
later to launch his invasion, had begun soon after the coming of the
Italians, and was designed to meet the requirements of a colonial situa-
tion in which there was a race of rulers and of ruled. Schooling from the
outset was based on the principle of different schools for Italian and
Ethiopian children. This principle was affirmed in the first royal decree
on education in Eritrea of January 31, 1909. Article I stated that "ele-
mentary education is compulsory for nationals in the colony," and was to
be based on "the programmes of the Kingdom" with such modifications
as might seem desirable in the light of "local conditions," while education
for "subjects" had to be regulated, according to Article II, by the gov-
ernor, whol was responsible for laying down attendance requirements and
programs to include the Italian language, arts, crafts, and agriculture.3
A subsequent decree of September 12, 1921 stated that there should be
three types of schools for "natives," elementary, arts and crafts, and
secondary.4
Education in the colony prior to fascism, and indeed during the first
decade of Mussolini's regime, was almost entirely in the hands of Protes-
tant and Roman Catholic missionaries. The former, originally the more
important, were by now regarded with disfavor by the Italian govern-
ment, however; they found their activities increasingly circumscribed
while Catholic missionaries were eventually encouraged to, run the gov-
ernment schools which came into existence. Schooling in the late 1920s
was carried oin by two, Swedish groups, the Evangelical Missionary Society,
which established schools in eight centers, Asmara, Zazega, Baleza, Adi
Ugri, Keren, Gheleb, Kulluko, and Suso-Kunama, and had over eleven
hundred children at school, and the Missionary Society of True Friends
of the Bible at Asmara, Addis Kunzi, and Koazen. Roman Catholic edu-
1 R. Pankhurst, Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 (Addis Ababa, 1968), 666-

688.
2 Achaber Gabre Hiot, La verite sur d'Ethiopie (Lausanne, 1931), 32.
3 Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi e dei decreti del regno d'Italia (Rome, 1909), I, 253-
254.
4 G. Mondaini, La legislazione coloniale italiana nel suo sviluppo storico e nel suo
stato attuale (1881-1940) (Milan, 1941), I, 208,

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EDUCATION IN ETHIOPIA (1936-1941) 363
cation was conducted by Italian Capuchins, who, employed forty-fou

teachers in seven schools with an enrollment of 765 boys and 426 gir
and ran five orphanages with 160 children, and a seminary with 60
inmates.5 Two' other Roman Catholic orders, the Sisters of St. Anna and
of the Nigrizia, were also, engaged in education.6
Although they had been established in the area for over half a century
in the 1920s thei Swedes suffered from acute discrimination. A missiona
report for 1924 noted, for example, that the Italian authorities had take
"the step of refusing to, grant a visa to new Protestant missionarie
without which they cannot enter the country - and declared that th
would not permit the return o'f those who, had been absent on furlough
This "harsh pronouncement" was later "somewhat softened," the auth
ities declaring that missionaries' passports would "be considered indiv
ually on their merits," but the report added:
In practice .. . there appears to be little modification of the official at

tude, for Pastor Svensson - the veteran of the Swedish Mission, with
record o'f fifty years' fine work . . . was refused a visa for leaving Asma
or returning to the colony. Neither was his native servant permitted
accompany him to Addis Ababa and Europe, though Pastor Svenss
greatly needed his care on the journey. The only concession he obtaine
was a permission to' return to Eritrea, secured through the help of th
Italian Minister at Addis Ababa.7
The basic difficulty, the report concluded, was that the Italian government
"objected that the type of instruction given does not appear 'to educate
the people to become obedient Italian subjects.' "8 The missions' schools,
described by G. N. K. Trevaskis, a member of the subsequent British ad-
ministration o'f the colony, as the only educational establishments for
Eritreans which aspired to "normal standards," were finally closed by
order of the Italian government in 1932.9
Complaints of interference with Protestant missionaries throughout
this period were later made to the post-war Four Power Commission of
Enquiry on Eritrea. Axel Jonsson of the Swedish Evangelical Mission re-
ported that the mission had "enjoyed freedom in its work" until 1920,
5 World Dominion Survey, Light and Darkness in East Africa (London, 1927), 181-
184; see also Four Power Commission of Investigation for the Former Italian Colonies,
Report on Eritrea (London, 1948), appendices to vol. I, appendix 86.
6 A. Festa, "Le istituzioni educative in Eritrea," Atti del Secondo Congresso di Studi
Coloniali (Firenze, 1936), II, 288.
7 World Dominion Survey, Light and Darkness, 185-186.
8 Ibid., 184.
9 G. K. N. Trevaskis, Eritrea, a Colony in Transition, 1940-1952 (London, 1960), 33.

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but that thereafter "freedom was curtailed" until December 1935, when
"all its missionaries were expelled and the properties of the Mission
taken by the Italian Government."'1 Clarence Duff of the American
Evangelical Mission of the Presbyterian Church noted that he had ex-
perienced "Italy's intolerance of Protestant missions" when his mission
"had all its property expropriated by the Italian Government and was
forced out of Eritrea along with all other Protestant missions."1"
In November 1932 the Italian government established a central office
for primary education in Eritrea, the purpose of which as defined by its
director, Andrea Festa, was to exercise technical and disciplinary super-
vision to, ensure that education accorded with the principles of the fascist
regime.o2 "Native schools" were now divided into three groups: ordinary
elementary schools providing teaching for four years; arts and crafts
schools, also, based on a four year course, to, be taken wherever possible
by pupils who had already completed two years in elementary school and
had thus acquired "the first elements of the Italian language"; and a com-
plementary school offering a two year course "to complete and integrate
the modest learning" gained by the pupils in their first four years of
elementary school. Education for Ethiopians following either the ele-
mentary or technical courses was thus restricted to, six years, since the
Italians deliberately desired, as Festa noted, to "suppress" the then exist-
ing "medium schools," the "pompous name" of which, he claimed, had
created by "no, means few misunderstandings" among the "natives" whose
aspirations were "many times in excess o,f their status."13 Only one com-
plementary school was in fact established, and it had but the poorest of
attendance. According to the subsequent Four Power Commission report,
"not many students" attended, their number varying from none in 1928/
1929 to 38 in 1933/1934, and only ten in 1939/1940.14
Italian educational policy on the eve of the Ethiopian war was summed
up by Festa who, addressing the Second Italian Congress of Colonial
Studies held in Florence in April 1934, declared that schools for Ethio-
pians aimed at "forming the new generation" and had "well defined aims."
The "native child," he declared, had to be "acquainted with a little of
our civilisation" in order to, become a "conscious propagandist" for Italian
10 Four Power Commission, Report on Eritrea, appendix 86.

11 Ibid., appendix 84, see also appendix 85; Great Britain, Ministry of Information,
The First to be Freed (London, 1944), 33.
12 Festa, "Le istituzioni educative in Eritrea," 289; Italy, Ministero delle Colonie,
Bollettino Ufficiale della Colonia Eritrea (Rome, 1930), 594.
13 Festa, "Le istituzioni educative in Eritrea," 294.
14 Four Power Commission, Report on Eritrea, 70.

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culture. He had therefore to "know Italy, its glories, and ancient history,
in order to, become a conscious militia man in the shade of our flag."
Emphasizing the importance of instruction in "hygiene, geography and
ancient history," he reported the "complete abolition" in the "native"
syllabus of the teaching of the history of the Italian struggle for inde-
pendence and national unity, and "all such ideas" as were "unnecessary
or in any way unsuited to the modest possibilities of the native." He
added that "the school thus conceived and circumscribed cannot but assure
an effective benefit to the children, future soldiers of Italy, without cre-
ating for the Government political preoccupations; which could perhaps
result from an education designed with more ample aims and with pro-
grammes consonent with those in force for compatriots," that is, Italians.15
Such ideas were not surprisingly unacceptable to many Eritrean youths,
a number of whom succeeded in making their way, largely for educa-
tional reasons, to, Ethiopia where they received schooling. Several subse-
quently sent abroad for study by Emperor Haile Sellassie were tol play
an important role in Ethiopian government affairs.
After the occupation of Ethiopia the invaders took fairly prompt action
to define their overall educational policy. They attended to, such questions
as the race of the students, content of the curriculum, and the language
or languages of instruction. The principles of fascist educational policy
in Africa were officially defined in an educational ordinance for the col-
onies issued on July 24, 1936, Article I of which reiterated the principle
that in the newly conquered empire, as in the older colonies, there were
to be two, different types of educational institutions, namely "Italian type
schools" and schools for "colonial subjects."16 This distinction, which was
basic to the fascist conception of empire-building, enabled the creation of
two, entirely different curricula and educational systems, one for Italians,
or members olf the "dominant race," and the other for "subject peoples."
Italian children, mainly offspring of officials and settlers, were consid-
ered to, require what they were already receiving in Eritrea, that is, an
essentially Italian fascist education broadly acceptable in Italy, although
with such modifications as might be deemed useful in view of the local
situation. Article VI specified that Italian citizens in the empire were
subject to the same rules for the compulsory education of their children
as were in force; in, metropolitan Italy,17 while Article XIV stated that the
programs and regulations of "Italian type" schools should "conform to
15 Festa, "Le istituzioni educative in Eritrea," 295.

16 Italy, Ministero delle Colonie, Bollettino UJficiale (Rome, 1936), XIV, 608.
17 Ibid., 609.

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those of the same grade in the Kingdom," except where "special local
conditions" required "modifications which would be promulgated by the
Minister for the Colonies."18 Half-caste children formerly in Italian
schools were later denied admission, after which they could be enrolled
only in institutions for "natives."19
Education for "natives," which was conceived of as much more rudi-
mentary than that for Italians, received far less attention in the edict of
1936, which nonetheless stated in Article VI that the governor could
issue a decree for their compulsory school attendance, but that this would
apply only to' children actually enrolled in the first grade of elementary
school.20 This hypothetical rule was thus intended not, as in the case of
Italian children, toi ensure that they should all go to school, but merely
that "native" children already in an educational establishment should not
be allowed to drop, out. The edict also, laid down in Article IX that
schools for "colonial subjects" should be inspected by officials who, ac-
cording to' Article XX had to be nominated by the governor from among
"colonial subjects" considered worthy because of their "learning, moral-
ity, and political conduct."21
Education for "natives" was to; equip them to, serve more efficiently in
a variety of semi-menial tasks, to indoctrinate them with feelings of
loyalty and subservience toward the fascist establishment, to give them
an understanding of hygiene in part at least to reduce the dangers of
contaminatioln to Italians resident among them, and to prevent them
from. acquiring professional or political aspirations out of harmony with
the fascist ethos. Italian policy, as proclaimed in an article in the official
publication Gli Annali dell' Africa Italiana, was "to! give to our compa-
triots an education not different from what they would have had in the
Motherland," and to achieve "the moral conquest, through the school, of
the native population."22 As far as the latter was concerned the journal
declared it a "fundamental and undiscussed axiom" of fascist policy that
"the school must be a political instrument for the peaceful penetration
and moral conquest of the, native population."23
The philosophy of fascist education for "natives" was further explained
by Festa, one of its architects, who told the Third Colonial Congress in
18 Ibid., 610.
20 Ministero delle Colonie, Bollettino Ufficiale, 'XIV, 609.
21 Ibid., 609, 611.
22 "Le scuola e le istituzioni educative," Gli Annali dell' Africa Italiana, III, 1 (1940),
690.
23 Ibid., 692.

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April 1937 that "the school in our Eastern Africa must have an essen-
tially practical aim." Reiterating his earlier theses he added,
The education provided by the existing didactic programmes up to the

fourth grade ... is sufficient, in my view, to provide the mass with the
specific preparation suitable to the position of the native population and
to our needs. The child, after four years of school, is in a position to
appreciate the benefits of our civilisation; he can be acquainted with
Italy, her glories, and her history, which is needed for him to be an
informed propagandist for such benefits among families more or less
far away from our educational action.24
Emphasizing the educational aspects he considered most important, he

went on to speak of the need for instruction in practical trades, hygiene,
and discipline. "Native" students, he explained, were "future askari,
workers, agriculturalists, interpreters and other employees," and should
receive daily courses in carpentry, smithery, mechanical repairs, typog-
raphy, and agriculture, but should also learn "a sense of discipline, respect
and obedience." On the question of hygiene he added, "It is desirable
above everything that the child knows and feels the need to, wash himself.
These are the best results that a teacher can obtain in the colonies. The
rest, reading and writing, will certainly be seen later; but it is necessary
to 'waste time' with so,ap."25 Such principles were summed up at about
the same time in a confidential directive from Festa to, Italian headmasters
in which he declared, "By the end of the fourth year, the Eritrean student
should be able to speak our language moderately well; he should know
the four arithmetical operations, within normal limits; he should be a
convinced propagandist of the principles of hygiene; and of history he
should know only the names of those who have made Italy great."26
The fascist philosophy of colonial education was also, elaborated in
several publications of the period which echo the ideas already formulated
by Festa, but find other arguments against academic education for the
subject people. Giuseppe Fabbri, editor of the Italian periodical Etiopia,
wrote in that journal in December 1938 that when during the Roman
empire Agricola educated the children of the British chiefs he had "be-
trayed Rome,"27 while an official publication of the following year pro-
24 A. Festa, "Presupposti e fine dell' azione educativa nei territorie dell' A.O.,"
Atti del Terzo Congresso di Studi Coloniale, VII (1937), 128; see also "L'istruzione
per bianchi e per indigene," Etiopia, II, 7-8 (1938), 55. For a somewhat different Ita-
lian approach to, indigeno,us education, see R. di Lauro, Le governo delle genti di colore
(Milan, 1940), 127-156, especially 127-128.
25 Festa, "Presupposti e fine dell' azione educativa nei territorie dell' A.O.I.," 128,
134, 135.
26 Quoted in Trevaskis, Eritrea, 33.
27 G. Fabbri, "Razza e dominio," Etiopia, II, 11-12 (1938), 21.

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claimed: "It is above all good to, bear in mind that complex courses of
study too, similar to those of metropolitan schools would lead to a fals
interpretation of the function of civilisation, creating social and mora
disharmony among the native masses induced by higher education re-
ceived but not substantially assimilated." This in turn, it was argued,
would cause the Ethiopians to, "search for employment little suited to
their race and unrelated to local conditions."
The "prime function" of Italian elementary education for Ethiopians,
the article continued, was to "civilise" them, and this involved "above
all" the issue of "rules of hygiene that would raise the sanitary conditions
of the population, also for the defence of metropolitan persons living in
the territories of Italian East Africa. No less important," the author con-
tinued, was the "economic and social amelioration of the native masses"
which was required "as much for their material welfare as fo,r our colo-
nisation." He added that "the best way to educate the native masses" was
to "call them, without the weight of excessive education," to work accord-
ing to their "aptitudes" and with due consideration of "traditions, existing
conditions, the social structure, and local economic possibilities." There
was, the article conceded, an obvious need for "a large mass of qualified"
persons in the empire, but they should be Italians, "not specialised native
labourers," for Africans should be employed only in fields where "for
the prestige of the race, climatic reasons or because of the character
of the work itself the employment of national man-power was not
possible." The employment of natives was alsot required as an "auxil-
liary function of national manpower": where it could assist colonization.
Fascist policy toward "colonial subjects," the author concluded, was "thus
essentially contained within the limits of elementary educatio,n" in which
work was the "predominant element." The type of employment available
to the Ethiopians would, however, vary from region to region, and de-
pend on the extent of agricultural, mineral, forestry, or other activity in
any area, though the government would also need to, employ them as
interpreters as well as teachers in indigenous schools. The Italian govern-
ment's interest in the education of its subjects, the article concluded, was
therefore concentrated in six areas: teaching through work, diffusion of
ideas on hygiene, teaching of the Italian language, imparting of the basic
ideas of geography and mathematics, imprinting ideas of discipline "to
inspire in the young masses the sense of duty, obedience and loyalty,"
and physical education.28
28 Direzione Superiore degli Affari Civile del Governo, "L'istruzione elementare ai

sudditi dell' A.O.I.," Opere per l'oranizzazione civile in Africa Orientale Italiana
(Addis Ababa, 1939), 185-187,

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Fascist colonial policy also, devoted some attention to questions of

language. Having no interest, like the previous Ethiopian government,
in the forging of national unity but rather the: reverse, and wishing to
make the maximum impact on the population at large as well as to
reduce the influence of the Amharas, hitherto the politically most im-
portant group in the empire and regarded as the principal opponents of
Italy, the colonial government decided to replace Amharic with Italian
as an official language and to adopt a multiple language policy as far as
the indigenous languages were concerned. This latter principle was laid
down in the Administrative Ordinance for Italian East Africa of June 1,
1936, Article XXXII of which stated that the teaching of colonial sub-
jects should be in the main local languages of the six administrative divi-
sions of Italian East Africa, as well as in Arabic in the Muslim, areas.
Instruction in Eritrea was thus to be in Tigrinya, in Amhara in Amharic,
in Addis Ababa in Amharic and Gallinya, in Harar in Harari and Gallin-
ya, in Galla-Sidama in Gallinya and Kafficho, and in Somalia in Somali,
though the Governor General was empowered to introduce, the teaching
of any other language not mentioned in the order.29 Though the use of
these languages was thus officially prescribed, the regulation does not
seem to, have been strictly followed, for the subsequent Four Power
Commission report on Eritrea observes that instruction was in fact "given
almost entirely in Italian in the State-operated schools."30
The question of the development of Italian, the official language of the
empire, was also discussed. Previously, during the period of the Italian
colonization in Eritrea, officials encouraged Ethiopian soldiers and others
to use a simplified Italian based on the almost indiscriminate use of the
infinitive, or infinitiloquio, as it was sometimes called.31 Fascist ideology,
on the other hand, tended to oppose what it considered this "hybrid"
language. A. M. Perbellini complained in the journal Etiopia that co-
lonial subjects had been encouraged to "mutilate the laniguage of Dante,"
and urged that Italian officials in charge of Ethiopian troops should teach
them "simple, correct Italian." Putting the matter in theoretical form he
declared that "with the same rigour with which we wish to fight against
the too easy mixing of white people and people of colour it is necessary
to defend ourselves against linguistic hybridism." His slogan was there-
fore "No half-breeding, neither of blood nor languages." Otherwise, he
warned, Italian colonists returning to Italy after some years in Africa
29 Ministero delle Colonie, Bollettino Ufficiale, XIV, 315.

31 R. Martinelli, Sud. Rapporto di un viaggio in Eritrea ed in Etiopia (Firenze, 1930),
108.

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would lose their familiarity with "our beautiful and harmonio

guage," and could be expected as in Africa to employ infinitiv
giving orders and interspersing their Italian with Ethiopian wor
ing stupefied Italian waiters, for example, when ordering coffee, "P
quello bicchiere, e poi dammi bun!'32
The Ethiopian war was a turning point in the educational hist
Eritrea and Ethiopia, both for the increasing numbers of local
children whose schooling, as we have seen, was given priority in
educational planning, and for the Ethiopians, who were consid
require a much simpler type of training. The first effects of the im
ing invasion of Ethiopia were felt in Eritrea in the summer of 1935
the Italian military authorities requisitioned most school buildin
only educational establishment unaffected, according to, Gli Ann
Africa Italiana, was the Prince of Piedmont School, the element
medium school for Italian children in Asmara.33 The great inf
Italians led, however, to a considerable increase in the need fo
tional facilities for Italian children. This resulted in the found
Asmara in 1936 of an academic secondary school, the Liceo Gin
Ferdinando Martini, which was housed in a building previously
the military, and the establishment in the following year of a t
school, the Istituto Tecnico Vittorio Bottego. The former had 14
dents ir 1936/1937 and 470 in 1938/1939. At this time the latt
an enrollment of 341 students.34 Prior to the war the colony al
sessed five elementary schools for Italian children situated at A
Massawa, Keren, Adi Caieh, and Addi Ugri, and these were aug
in 1938 by six new schools at Adi Quala, Agordat, Decamare, N
Saganeiti, and Senafe, and by a kindergarten at Keren.35 There w
as the subsequent Four Power Commission report stated, "a fair
plete system of primary and secondary education" for Italians in Er
After the occupation of Ethiopia the .Italians were also confront
the major problem of providing schooling for the children of th
tionals scattered in centers all over the empire, and as a result,
tional establishments for Italian children were established in the pr
Ethiopian urban centers on the lines already laid down for Erit
province of Tigre was annexed to Eritrea, and the statistics for
32 A. M. Perbellini, "I1 meticci linguistici. Del Parlare italiano con gli in

Etiopia, I, 1 (1937), 49-50.
33 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 677.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid., 678.

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areas were combined. They show that elementary schools for Italian
children were instituted in 1938 at Adigrat, Adowa, Aksum, Makale,
Amba Alagi, then known as Toselli, and Qoram. By 1938/1939 schools
for Italians in the areas comprised 107 classes, and had a student popula-
tion of 2554, 1793 of whom were in Asmara.37
Educational changes in Addis Ababa began shortly after the capture
of the city when the old Tafari Makonnen School was converted into
two "Italian type" schools, the Liceo-Ginnasio Vittorio Emanuele III and
the Istituto Tecnico Benito Mussolini, both reserved for European chil-
dren, while the prewar Empress Menen School for girls was converted
into the Regina Elena military hospital.38 The Liceo-Ginnasio, an aca-
demic secondary school, was run by twelve teachers and had 57 students
in 1936/1937 and 235 by 1938/1939,39 and the Istituto Tecnico, a
technical school with a teaching staff of eight, started in 1937/1938 with
some 30 students who increased by the following year to 77.40 Steps were
later taken to expand the original buildings by erecting a new wing, six
additional classrooms, a library building, and several smaller structures.4'
At the elementary level the prewar Italian Consolata Mission School
was likewise expanded. By 1936/1937 it had 143 pupils, all of them
European, 73 of them Italian; these figures rose by 1937/1938 to 161
and 91 respectively, with a total enrollment of 151 in 1938/1939.42
Another elementary school for Italians, the Vittorio Emanuele III School,
was established in January 1937. Originally housed in part of the old
Tafari Makonnen School, it had five classes with 54 pupils, all of them
Italian, and was later transferred to the premises of the prewar Armenian
school. By 1938/1939 it comprised 15 classes and was attended by 547
students, half of them Italian, the remainder mainly Armenian.43 The
settlement of Italian agriculturalists at Holetta to the west of the capital
37 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 678-679.

38 Addis Ababa, Governatorato di Addis Ababa, La capitale dell' Impero (Addis
Ababa, 1938), 112.
39 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 681; Governatorato di Addis Ababa, La
capitale dell' Impero, 69; "Scuole per nazionali nell, A.O.I.," Opere per l'organizzazione
civile in Africa Orientale Italiana (Addis Ababa, 1939), 182.
capitale dell' Impero, 68; see also F. Quaranta, Ethiopia, an Empire in the Making
(London, 1939), 9; Italy, Governo Generale A.O.I. Stato Maggiore, II primo anno
dell' Impero (Addils Ababa, 1939), III, 151.
41 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 681; Corriere dell' Impero, 26 October 1940.
42 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 681-682; Governatorato di Addis Ababa,
La capitale dell' Impero, 69.
La capitale dell' Impero, 69.

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also saw the initiation of a government school for Italian childre

Provincial secondary education for Italians outside Tigre als
toward the end of 1936/1937 when a secondary school, the
Vittorio Emanuele III, which catered to other European nation
well, was founded in Dire Dawa. This school was transferred to Harar
for the academic year 1937/1938, and by the following year had an
enrollment of 41 boys and 33 girls, all of them Italian.45 A lower tech-
nical school named for Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi was then
established in Dire Dawa, and in 1938/1939 had three classes with 25
students, including French, Greek, Armenian, and other foreign children.46
Two prewar Ethiopian schools at Harar and Dire Dawa were taken over
in 1937 as elementary schools for Italian children, and by 1938/1939
the two schools had an enrollment of 122 and 103 pupils respectively.
That at Harar was called Giampietro Porro.47 A secondary school for
Italian children was also instituted at Gondar in 1938, and had 37 stu-
dents;48 elementary schools for Italians were initiated there and at Dessie
in the previous year. By 1938/1939 the former had an attendance of 77
and the latter of 48 pupils.49 A secondary and a primary school, both for
Italians, were also set up at Jimma, with enrollments in 1938/1939 of
20 and 47 pupils respectively.50
Education for the indigenous people in prewar Eritrea had been re-
stricted, as already explained, to essentially primary level schooling. In
1935, immediately prior to the outbreak of hostilities, the nine Italian
"native schools" in Eritrea, at Asmrrara, Assab, Massawa, Adi Caieh, Sag-
neiti, Keren, Ghinda, and Agordat, were closed, but were reopened in
1936/1937. In 1938 "native" schools were also established at Ad Tecle-
san, Barentu, Decamare, Gheleb, Senafe, Tessenei, Thio, Zazega, and Adi
Quala; one was instituted outside Asmara at the village of Acria in
1939.51 By that time, according to the later Four Power Commission re-
port, the colony could boast twenty elementary schools for Eritreans,
although this number had fallen by 1941 to sixteen, "presumably because
44 "La scuola e istituzioni educative," 682.

45 Ibid., 684-685; Governo del Harar, Tre anni di occupazione (Harar, 1939), 112-
114.
46 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 685; Governo del Harar, Tre anni di occu-
pazione, 114-116.
47' "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 685; Governo del Harar, Tre anni di occu-
pazione, 117.
48 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 686; "Scuole per nazionali nell' A.O.I.,"
182-183.
49 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 687.
50 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 689; "Scuole per nazionali nell' A.O.I.7" 182,
51 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 678-679,

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of the mobilisation of teachers." Student dropout rates seem to have been

remarkably high, for the same document declares that "according to re-
ports made by Eritrean teachers ... an average of only one out of five
students remained in these schools until the end of the school year."52
Moreover, the standard of teaching, as Trevaskis noted, was "low" and
its scope "designedly narrow."53
After the occupation of Ethiopia the invaders were confronted with
several major problems in the fields of indigenous education. They saw
the need first to eliminate or neutralize the prewar intelligentsia, which
was largely foreign-educated and bitterly opposed to the loss of inde-
pendence, second to liquidate the small but crucially important prewar
educational system which provided secondary education, enabling a small
but nonetheless significant number of students to proceed to, universities
abroad, educating them above the station expected of them in fascist ide-
ology, and third to initiate special training programs for Ethiopians, par-
ticularly to, introduce them to the Italian language and fascist culture, to
equip them for the modest and largely menial role required of them in
the Italian colonial empire, and to prepare them for military service in
the Italian army. The latter, it should be emphasized, was regarded by
the fascists as of no small importance; the Duce informed Hitler in 1939
that he was planning to create a grandiose "native army" of no less than
half a million men.54
Action against the Ethiopian intelligentsia was conceived even before
the occupation of Addis Ababa. Two days earlier, on, 3 May 1936, the
Duce telegraphed orders for the summary execution of the so-called
Young Ethiopians, who had been mainly educated at universities in
Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. Despite strong pressure
for their execution from Italian Minister of the Colonies Alessandro
Lessona, Rodolfo Graziani, the Italian officer in charge of military opera-
tions and subsequently viceroy, succeeded in mitigating the sentence, but
most of these Ethiopian intellectuals were placed in the notorious con-
centration camp at Danale in Somalia or other places of confinement.55
Secondary education for Ethiopians had meanwhile come to an abrupt
end, since the prewar schools in Addis Ababa had been largely appropri-
ated for the education of Italian children or for entirely noneducational
purposes.

53 Trevaskis, Eritrea, 33.
54 Great Britain, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Documents on International
Affairs, 1939-1946 (London, 1951), 163.
55 R. Graziani, Ho difeso la patria (Rome, 1947), 581.

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The subsequent attempt on Graziani's life and the ensuing fasci

sacre of 21 to 23 February 1937 led to further action against ed
Ethiopians, several of the most notable of whom were killed or e
while others were deported to penal islands off the Italian coa
other places of detention. The American consul in Addis Ababa
noted on March 14 that "there seems to be good ground for repo
Italian policy aims at the elimination of prominent and educated
who are regarded as potential inciters of rebellion against Italian rul
Repression was by no means restricted to Addis Ababa; Thomas W
the British acting consul in Harar, reported from that city on
that "all natives who can speak French or English are being arres
removed to Mogadishu or elsewhere."57
Efforts were meanwhile being made, as the fascist writer Dari
said, "to, give the natives knowledge of our language and to teac
our methods of life."58 In Tigre, now annexed to Eritrea, the
primary schools at Adowa and Makale were reopened and new on
established at Adigrat, Aksum, Abbi Addi, Entecho, Hauzen, Azb
Medhane Alem, Amba Alagi, Mai Chew, and Qoram.59 Schools f
inhabitants of the enlarged province of Eritrea, all of them of c
primary level, in 1938/1939 comprised 123 classes and had 417
dents,60 one of whom, as E. W. Polson Newman noted, was "the
looking son" of Ras Seyum, the traditional ruler of Tigre, who a
the Eritrean boys' schoo.l at Asmara.6
Fascist schooling for the conquered people was by then also un
in Addis Ababa. Lischi claims that the first Italian school for Et
was organized by the Addis Ababa fascio as early as June 11,62
C. Zoli, another writer of this period, declared that "over a thou
tive children" were "given free lunch" and "clothed in uniform."63 P
Roberts of the British legation, on the other hand, opined on 22
ber that "these so-called Fascist schools . . . are not schools in reality
have been established for propaganda purposes," and added:
56 Great Britain, Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20927/287, Public Record Office,

[hereafter P.R.O.}.
57 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20928, 52-53, P.R.O.
58 D. Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato (Pisa, 1937), 204.
59 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 678; see also E. W. Poison Newman, The
New Abyssinia (London, 1938), 9; L. Diel, "Behold Our New Empire" - Mussolini
(London, 1939), 37.
61 Polson Newman, New Abyssinia, 30.
62 Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato, 202, 204.
63 C. Zoli, "The Organization of Italy's East African Empire," Foreign Affairs, XVI,
16 (1937), 85-86.

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There were about 300 boys at first, but the number has now decreased
to 150, the reason being that some of them died of typhus and others
had to leave the school owing to starvation. It is said that the food given
daily is scanty and unsuitable, and it is only the boys who have no place
to go that stay in school. Time is spent in singing the National hymn of
Italy, and "Giovinezza," and in training of a military nature.64
Such military maneuvers caught the eye of other observers. An American

missionary couple named Hanson told of "truckloads of boys paraded
through the streets of Addis Ababa ... singing political songs and carry-
ing toy rifles."65 L. Saska, a Hungarian physician, stated that Ethiopian
children "five, six and seven years of age, were taken from their mothers
(their fathers were often already dead) and were exercised in the military
arts with little rifles and daggers. They were trained to sing the Fascist
marches and military songs."66 Roberts went on to state that the pupils
were "only given oral lessons from time to time," that no books of any
kind were supplied, and that there was no "regular attendance." The
syllabus, though, he said, "not carried out," was revealing and consisted
of the following four points:
1. Political Education. Supreme authorities: His Majesty the King

Emperor, His Excellency the Duce. Constituted authority, political,
civil and military.
2. Scholastic Programme. Practical spoken language with elements of
writing, dealing with practical subjects relating to Fascist discipline,
work and civilisation. Progressive counting, idea of the four opera-
tions oral and written.
3. Physical Education. First elements of drill and military gymnastics.
4. Rules of Conduct and Hygiene. First elements of civil education:
Respect towards persons, property and constituted authorities.
Turning to the management of the school the same observer added: "No
attention is paid to the progress of the school. It is left in the hands of a
few Eritrean teachers. The work of the school is described as childish. It
is only on occasions when visitors go to the school that the Italian teachers
are present."67
Efforts were also made to organize groups of young people outside the
school and to educate them, on the example of a similar organization in
64 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20927/30, P.R.O.

65 H. M. and D. Hanson, For God and Emperor (Mountain View, California, 1958),
62.
66 L. Sava, "Ethiopia under Mussolini's Rule," New Times and Ethiopia News, 27
September 1940.
6? Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20927/30, P.R.O.

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Libya, as the Gioventu Etiopica del Littorio, or Ethiopian Youth of the

Littorio. Some members of this organization were later taken to Rome
where they were paraded on 24 May 1937, the twentieth anniversary of
Italy's entry into World War I, and made to sing a specially composed
hymn of praise to the Duce, one verse of which declared:
Mussolini is our friend,

And he must be, so great his powers,
The friend of God, as well as ours.68
Zoli writing of this time told of "special evening courses" being set up
for Ethiopian adults,69 but Roberts declared that though some 2500 men
registered they did so "to escape imprisonment for minor offences and
evade compulsory enlistment for military services. But after a month or
two they were forced to go to the various military quarters to train as
soldiers, or as auxiliaries to the carabineers."70 L. Diel, though a Nazi
propagandist, admitted that the project was a failure, and that "very soon
it became evident that these endeavours were premature, whereupon in-
structions came from Rome to suspend them until new general lines
could be laid down."71 The official attitude to such organizations was de-
fined in September 1937 when Graziani warned Achille Starace, secretary
of the fascist party, against the enrollment of Ethiopians into fascist
organizations, and declared that the activities of the indigenous youth
"must be strictly limited to premilitary instruction if even that is neces-
sary." The, Viceroy subsequently reported on September 25 that he had
on that day spoken on the matter with the Duce by telephone and that
Mussolini was "fully of the same opinion" on "the necessity of excluding
natives from fascist organisations."72
Another attempt at indigenous education began, according to Gli
Annali dell' Africa Italiana, at the end of June 1936 when the fascist
federation and the Italian Military Co'mmand opened a school which was
partially filled by abandoned children found in the city on the arrival of
the Italian troops.73 The establishment, which had two, sections, one for
68 A. Del Boca, The Ethiopian War 1935-1941 (Chicago, 1969), 228.

69 Zoli, "Organization," 85-86; see also Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato, 202.
70 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20927/30, P.R.O.
71 Diel, Mussolini, 37; see also Daily Telegraph, 16 November 1936; Daily Sketch,
16 November 1936.
72 United States of America, National Archives, Microcopy T 821/Roll 468/704,
Washington, D.C. [hereafter U.S.N.A.].
73 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 680, 682; see also E. Waugh, Waugh in
Abyssinia (London, 1936), 232.

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boys and one for girls,74 was placed under a master from the Italian Na-
tional School in Asmara,75 its "double objective," according to, Lischi,
being to teach the Italian language and Italian customs, and thus to
familiarize the children with Italians.76 This project, however, was also
by no means a success. Gli Annali dell' Africa Italiana states that in the
boys' section attendance fluctuated between only 50 and 200, but that no
more than five attended regularly. Many children abandoned the institu-
tion to wander the streets once they acquired their school clothes, while
others left to become interpreters on learning a few words of Italian. The
school was accordingly closed in 1937 and the orphans and abandoned
children were handed over to an Italian missionary group, the Sisters
of Canossa.77
Italian government actioin in the capital began for practical purposes
only toward the end of 1937, therefore, but was limited in scope, with
instruction largely left to the missionaries. In October 1937 the Addis
Ababa authorities, concerned at the high incidence of eye disease, estab-
lished a school for children suffering from trachoma.78 This institution,
situated near the Santa Vicenzo de Paola mission, was entrusted to the
Sisters oif Canossa, and again had two sections separating boys and girls.
Sixty-eight pupils attended in 1937/1938 and 116 in the following year.79
In November 1937 the prewar Muslim school was reorganized as a gov-
ernment school, with Italian added to Arabic as a language of instruc-
tion; by 1937/1938 the school had five classes with a total enrollment
of 118.80 The Italian Department of Political Affairs later conceived the
idea of setting up a special convent school for the children of "native
notables," and premises near the Consolata mission were constructed in
1.940 for some sixty pupils who on completing their studies were to serve
as minor officials, interpreters, and language instructors.81 The fascist
empire collapsed before the first students could graduate.
Education in the city throughout the occupation period was mainly in
74Governatorato di Addis Ababa, Rivista del Governatorato (Addis Ababa, 1939),

I, 68.
75 Diel, Mussolini, 37.
76 Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato, 202.
77 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 682; see also M. G. Landi, Crocerossina in
A. 0. (Milano, 1938), 140-141; Governo Generale A.O.I., II primo anno dell' Impero,
III, 152.
78 "I servizi sanitari," Gli Annali dell' Africa Italiana, III (1940), 816.
capitale dell' Impero, 69.
capitale dell' Impero, 69.

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the hands of Roman Catholic missionaries, but was extremely

scope, for they ran o,nly three schools besides the institution, for
victims. The Consolata Mission School, which had been established prior
to the invasion, was reorganized in October 1936; it was named after
Clementina Graziani, the mother of the Viceroy, and gave instruction
that year to 68 pupils. Enrollment rose in the following year to, 122 and
reached 147 by 1938/1939.82 The French Capuchin Mission School,
which also predated Italian times, was taken over in 1936/1937 by the
Sisters of Canossa, and had two and later three classes, attendance in-
creasing from 38 in 1936/1937 to 67 in 1938/1939. There was finally,
as already mentioned, an establishment at Gulale run by the Sisters of
Canossa, which by 1938/1939 had an enrollment of 104 boys in three
classes and three classes of 58 girls who, according to Lischi, learned
Italian and domestic work.83 A night school for teaching Italian to adults
was also established; its objective, according to Lischi,. was to prepare its
students for service in the colonial army and to give other Ethiopian
employees a working knowledge of the new language of government.
Some 3000 students were enrolled. Only 1000 of them, mainly former
government employees, spoke Amharic, since the great majority were
people from the provinces and unfamiliar with the former official lan-
guage, although 250 knew a European language. Lischi claims that 80
per cent attendance was achieved.84
Outside the capital, meanwhile, a number of small primary schools
were also established in Shoa. Soon after the close of the fighting the
military authorities set up schools at Akaki, Dukam, Ada, Moggio, Adama,
Awash, Holetta, and Addis Alem. As Gli Annali del' Africa Italiana ad-
mitted, however, most of these were later "suppressed."85 Of the eight
only two survived, one at Holetta, which was taken over by the Italian
government in 1937/1938 and by the following year had two classes
with a total enrollment of 52 pupils, and one at Addis Alem which was
entrusted to, the mission of Frati Minori. The Italian government later
opened small schools at Ambo, Debra Berhan, Debra Sina, Fiche, and
Mendida, while the Consolata mission founded a school at Walkite with
74 pupils.86 In 1939, an official publication stated that there were then
82 Ibid., 683; Diel, Mussolini, 37.

La capitale dell' Impero, 69; Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato, 203.
84 Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato, 203-204.
85 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 684; see also Governatorato di Addis Ababa,
La capitale dell' Impero, 69; Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato, 204; Diel, Mussolini, 37.
86 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 684; see also Lischi, Nell' Impero liberato,
204,

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thirteen primary schools in provincial Shoa employing over sixty teachers

and with an enrollment of 1481. Actual attendance, however, oscillated
greatly, as many students are said by the official publication to have
deserted to, follow Italian lorries or to, spend their time "idly in their
tukuls."87
After the occupation, Italian troops in Harar province immediately

took over the prewar schools at Harar and Dire Dawa, while the local
Italian resident seized the old school at Jigjiga. These establishments were
later transferred either to educational or missionary bodies. The school
at Harar, which was attended only by Christians, was named for King
Vittorio Emanuele and was operated by the Brothers of St. Gabriel, who
in 1938/1939 taught 30 pupils in two classes. The Savoia School at
Dire Dawa was rumn by the government and had an enrollment of 190
pupils in one class, and the prewar school at Asba Tafari, renamed Asba
Littoria, had 44 pupils also in one class. The Capuchins had a further
three schools for both sexes with an enrollment of about 100 pupils at
Harar, 30 at Sofi, and 40 at Fiambiro.88 There was also a Koranic school
at Harar with 600 pupils who received most of their education in Arabic.
Diel, writing, it will be recalled, as a propagandist for fascism, somewhat
pompously claimed that it would "one day be as important an institution
as that in Cairo,."89
A handful of "native" schools were also founded or reestablished in
other provinces. The prewar schools at Gondar, Dessie, and Debra Markos
were reopened, and new schools were instituted at Debarek, Debra Tabor,
Lake Haik, and Waldea; total enrollment in these seven primary schools
was 1034 in 1938/1939.90 Farther south a three year Muslim school at
Jimma was founded in 1937, the old primary schools at Jimma and
Lekempti were reinstated, and new ones set up at Agaro, Bonga, Dembi-
dolo, Gimbi, and Gore.9l Polson Newman, who, was taken on a tour
of inspectioin of some of these institutions, stated in 1937 that "while
in some cases old buildings are in temporary use, new schools are begin-
ning to make their appearance," although classes were often "held in
tents and huts."92 A year or so later Diel observed:
87 Governatorato di Addis Ababa, La capitale dell' Impero, 69-70.

88 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 686; see also Governo del Harar, Tre anni
di occupazione, 116-118.
89 Governo del Harar, Tre anni di occupazione, 118; Diel, Mussolini, 55.
90 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 687; see also Polson Newman, New Abys-
sinia, 110'.
91 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 689; Quaranta, Ethiopia, 9.

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In the course of my travels, I saw school-houses of bamboo, wood, straw

and grass, corrugated iron, and not infrequently, stoine, and in all cases
one saw a large blackboard, a teacher's desk, and, on the walls, pictures
of the King Emperor. I was often surprised to, discover how in a few
months the children made progress in the Italian language and how
admirably they behaved.93
Teaching, Polson Newman recalled, was "given in Italian and the native
language or languages . .. and there is nearly always an interpreter. ...
The school-teachers are chiefly Eritreans supervised by Italians, who are
in many cases priests or nuns."94
The fascists deliberately decided to employ Italian Roman Catholic
missionaries in an effort to! exclude non-Italian Catholics as well as mis-
sionaries of other denominatio,ns.95 Discussions with the Papacy on this
matter began in the summer of 1936. The Daily Telegraph's Vatican
correspondent reported on 15 July that "plans for important and far-
reaching collaboration between the Holy See and the Fascist State" were
being studied, and that "all foreign priests" would be excluded from
missionary work in Ethiopia.96 A week later, on 21 July, the Church of
England chaplain in Addis Ababa, the Reverend A. F. Matthew, was in-
formed by a commandant of carabinieri "that Marshal Graziani wished
him to; leave the country as he was not a friend of Italy." The British
legation, however, reported that Matthew was "a most harmless person
who, could not possibly give offence to the Italians either by word or
deed."97 Further expulsions followed. In September it was announced that
M. E. Palm of the Seventh Day Adventist Missio,n had been ordered to
leave,98 and a subsequent publication of the Sudan Interior Mission re-
lated that "gradually ... it became clear that the attitude of the Italian
Government towards Protestant missionary work would not be one of
toleration, but of opposition." In December 1936 the mission was in-
formed that their buildings in Addis Ababa were tot be expropriated.
This news, E. R. Rice explained, "came as a terrible shock," for "if the
buildings were taken away and no alternative site were granted, it would
be impossible for the missionaries to remain at the capital." Representa-
tions, he said, "were made by the Mission to! the Italian authorities,
to the British and American consuls in Addis Ababa, and to, the Foreign
93 Diel, Mussolini, 37-38.

95 A. B. Svensson, Abessinien under italianarna (Stockholm, 1939), 51; Hanson,
For God and Emperor, 110.
96 Daily Telegraph, 15 July 1936.
97 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20210/234, 255, P.R.O.
98 Foreign Office? F. O. 371/20210/269, P.R.Q.

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Office in. London, but it seemed that nothing could be done." Early in
March 1937, the mission was told that it would be unable to continue
work in the Galla and Sidama regions, and that all stations south of
Addis Ababa would likewise be expropriated. At about the same time the
two S.I.M. missionaries at Lalibela were ordered to leave. "It became
clear," Rice commented, "that the Italian Government was pursuing a
definite policy, and that nothing was to be gained by trying to fight it."99
The Papal authorities meanwhile had agreed to remove non-Italian
Roman Catholics from the empire. The Morning Post correspondent
noted on March 11 that as a part of "a vast plan for developing the work
of the Catholic Church in Abyssinia," Pope Pius XI had decided that
"non-Italian missio,naries of the Catholic Church already in these parts of
Africa are to be recalled and sent elsewhere."100 Later in the month the
veteran French missionary Monsigneur Andre Jarousseau was replaced
by an Italian who, the British consul commented, was "obviously a polit-
ical bishop,"10' while early in April H. C. Bartleet of the Bible Church-
men's Missionary Society and five other Protestant missionaries were
expelled. The Italian government spokesman, Virginio Gayda, often re-
ferred to as Mussolini's mouthpiece, claimed in the Giornale d'Itali that
the Protestant missionaries were spies and agents provocateurs who "en-
cumbered Ethiopia with their intolerable methods and programmes," and
added, "The missionaries are revealed either as the agents of espionage
and crooked business or as the exponents of dangerous fanaticism of
which the Protestant world today gives such abundant proof."102 A month
or so later, on June 10, the Italian foreign minister, Count Ciano, in-
formed Sir Eric Drummond, the British ambassador in Rome, that the
matter had been referred to the Duce, who had decided that it was not
the Italian government's intention "now or ever to entrust any religious
denomination of a foreign country with the task o,f setting up any schools
in Abyssinia." Reporting this to the House of Commons, Anthony Eden
commented, "The Government regret this decision. They consider it is a
wrong principle on which to proceed."'03 Lessona, apparently wishing to
99 E. R. Rice, Eclipse in Ethiopia and its Corona Glory (London, 1938), 115-117;
see also Svensson, Abessinien, 56.
100 Morning Post, 11 March 1937.
101 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/22021/13, P.R.O.; Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/22025/
170-172, 190-192, P.R.O.
102Daily Telegraph, 9 and 10 April 1937; Morning Post, 9 and 10 April 1937;
News Chronicle, 10 April 1937; Sunday Times, 11 April 1937; New Times and Ethio-
pia News, 15 May 1937; see also N. Grubb, Alfred Buxton of Abyssinia and Congo
(London, 1942), 152-155.
103 Italy, Archivio storico dell' ex-Ministero dell' Africa Italiana, cart 75, fasc. 205,

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pacify such objections, nevertheless told the Italian Senate on June 22

that "Italy owned no gratitude" to Protestant missionaries on account of
their "deliberately hostile attitude before and after the war," but in an
attempt to silence foreign criticism claimed that "once political security
was assured Italy had no, intention of persecuting them."104 Zoli noted
that the occupation period nonetheless witnessed the expulsion of mis-
sionaries from no less than five Protestant groups, namely the Bible
Mission Society, the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society, the British
and Foreign Bible Society, the Seventh Day Adventist Mission, and the
Sudan Interior Mission. Mission schools were also closed and missionary
converts suffered; a contemporary report declared that at the Bible
Churchmen's Missionary Society's school "the teachers, evangelists, and
students," numbering about fifty in all, were arrested.l05
The fascists were also strongly opposed to the education of Ethiopians
abroad, even in Italy. Graziani clearly expressed their attitude on 13
December 1937 when he telegraphed to the Ministry of Italian Africa in
Rome to report that certain "subjects" with children in educational es-
tablishments abroad had expressed a desire for them to be transferred to
institutions in Italy. Although recognizing the value of removing the
youngsters from foreign schools, where they would be under the influence
of "irredentists and agitators," the Viceroy urged that enrollment in Ital-
ian schools was scarcely preferable, for such students would end up as
"displaced persons." He added that even if their education was "exclu-
sively limited to the agricultural or artisan field" there would "always be
the problem of their cohabitation and domestication" with Italian na-
tionals, which was "absolutely to be avoided." He therefore proposed that
the children be placed in a special school in Ethiopia.106 The Duce ac-
cepted this proposal and telegraphed on the following day that it was
"necessary to instruct the natives in schools of a professional character,"
and added significantly enough, "It is useless and dangerous to give them
degrees or diplomas."'07
no. 220757, Rome; see also no. 220459; Evening Standard, 14 June 1937; Oxford Mail,
14 and 15 June 1937.
104 Morning Post, 24 May 1937.
105 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20928/30, P.R.O.; Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20928/
134, passim, 174-175, P.R.O.; Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20939, passim, P.R.O.; Foreign
Office, F. 0. 371/23378/302-304, 315-320, P.R.O.; C. Zoli, La conquista dell' Impero
(Bologna, 1937), 406; Hanson, For God and Emperor, 53, 61-62; Grubb, Alfred Bux-
ton, 152-154; see also Giornale Ufficiale del Governo Generale dell' Africa Orientale
Italiana, IV (1939), 862.
106 U.S.N.A., 468/1087-1091, 472/747.
107 U.S.N.A., 472/253.

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Such views were shared by most of the top level Italian rulers in East
Africa. On 5 June 1938, General Guglielmo Nasi, the governor of Harar,
complained in a memorandum on the "Direction of Native Education"
that he had noticed commissars and residents who had "an ambition to
extend elementary education for natives, and to teach our language to as
many children as possible. This," he commented,
is a fundamental political mistake that tends to, put individuals out of

their cass who, solely because of their education, will refuse to work in
the fields, as we know by our own colonial experience and by that of
other countries. They are attracted to the towns, ask for Government
employment, compete with the nationals in trades that should be re-
served to the latter, forming a class of discontented, or even worse,
rebellious people.
Elaborating on the need for a rigid control of education he continued:
As I have already said on other occasions we should reserve the strictly

necessary education for the sons of chiefs and more important nobilities
only, because these can later on succeed toi the duties of their fathers,
serve us as interpreters and hold modest positioins in offices. ... While
for obvious reasons we cannot altogether close the door of public educa-
tion for the youth of the lower social classes, we can and we ought to
close tightly the door to special courses, e.g. those for interpreters; and
in general we should avoid propaganda and, still worse, pressure on
families to send their sons to the Italian schools. This principle, which
can be absolute in the country, ought of course for obvious reasons to be
subject to many exceptions in the larger towns (Harar and Dire Dawa).
Also, with regard to native orphans it is a mistaken policy, for the same
reasons as mentioned above, to establish orphanages, because there, in
the end, you will always give them habits that do not belong to their
race or their social class. Instead these derelicts should be cared for by
entrusting them to relatives, or at any rate to native families, who, under
our control and for a modest monthly sum, can bring them up in the
very surroundings in which they afterwards will have toi live and work.
It is superfluous to add that the present directive is of a very secret
character, and should be applied without divulging the real motives.108
These ideas were widely expounded by the Italian administration. The

Duke of Aosta, who succeeded Graziani as Viceroy toward the end of
1937, noted in a memorandum dated 26 October 1939 that
108 Ethiopia, Ministry of Justice, Documents on Italian War Crimes submitted to the
United Nations War Crimes Commission by the Imperial Ethiopian Government (Addis
Ababa, 1949), I, 30, 65-66.

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at the last meeting of the Governors full assent was given to the prin-
ciple .. . that the schools of all kinds established for the subject peoples
of Italian East Africa ought above all to, aim at this goal: to train the
pupils in the cultivation of the soil or to, become qualified (not special-
ised) in order to create gradually native skilled craftsmanship for all
fields of labour where, for reasons of climate, surroundings, or race pres-
tige, the use of Italian labour is not admissible or convenient and for
the purpose of reducing the cost of labour and production in general by
making use of native labour. Consequently it is important that the re-
spective Governors, taking into account the special conditions of their
own territories, the native attitude to work and the demands of the local
industries, should organise the schools for colonial natives, assigning to
each of them the specialisation that will most easily lead to the goal
indicated above.
It is also understood that, with the exception of the schools for agri-
cultural instruction, where the greater the number of pupils the greater
will be the economic and social advantages derived from these schools,
for all the others, vocational schools and the cultural schools reserved for
the sons of native notabilities, the number of students should be decided,
year by year, with regard to, the employment possibilities in the indus-
tries and local occupations that can be held out to the students leaving
each school. .... To the training planned in those programs should be
added gymnastic military exercises, in the form and with the teaching
staff that each Government judges most convenient.109
The fascist doctrine of racial purity designed to preserve the "prestige

of the Italian race" led to the decision in 1939 that half-castes in the
empire be reduced to the status of "natives" by the removal of all distinc-
tions between the two groups. Emphasizing that "the formation of an
intermediary class of half-castes between the metropolitan and native
elements" would lead to the creation of "a mass of malcontents," Gli
Annali dell' Africa Italiana declared that special educational institutions
for this group of the population had to be prohibited, and persons of
mixed parentage be obliged to study only in establishments reserved for
full-blooded "natives."10 These principles were in due course embodied
in an Italian royal decree of 13 May 1940, Article V of which stated that
half-castes were the sole financial responsibility of the "native" parent;
Article VI stated that special schools and other education, even of a con-
fessional type, for half-castes were prohibited, that such persons must not
be accepted at institutions for nationals, and could only attend those re-
served for "natives." Persons breaking this regulation were subject to a
109 Ibid., 54, 66-77.

10L "La politica di razza," Gli Annali dell' Africa Italiana, II, 3 (1939), 81-82,

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fine of up to, three thousand lire, and any offending institution was liable
to closure.1"
Throughout the occupation the fascist authorities took steps to strictly
control the diffusion of information. Foreign press correspondents in
Addis Ababa, including British, Greek, Belgian, French, and German na-
tionals, were expelled within the first few weeks of the occupation of the
city."2 The local Italian press published only officially acceptable infor-
mation,1t3 which was often little more than a caricature of real news.
The Swedish missionary A. B. Svensson, recording his impressions of the
fascist Addis Ababa daily, Corriere dell' Impero, commented that it gave
a "queer picture" of the international situation. Italy was presented as the
strongest power, and the Duce as the most important statesman who
determined the fate of the world. There were two other important states,
Germany and Japan, who followed the Duce. The United States was
described as a country with money and oil, while England was sometimes
mentioned with respect and sometimes joked about. There were occa-
sional references to France, likewise Moscow, a terrible place; several
other countries were also mentioned, but only if some Italian was honored
there, while crimes if they occurred in the sanctionist countries were
often reported.14 Import of foreign papers was at the same time strictly
controlled; a decree put out by the Governor General on 1 July 1936
prohibited the import into Addis Ababa and Shoa of all foreign news-
papers except those especially authorized. The sole British newspaper on
the list was the pro-Italian Daily Mail, and no American papers at all
were permitted."5 Access to foreign broadcasts was likewise curtailed.
G. L. Steer reported in 1941 that no more than forty Ethiopians were
allowed to have radio sets.116
Insight into the character and emphases of fascist colonial education

with its repetitious use of chauvinistic and militaristic propaganda can
perhaps best be seen by an examination of the textbooks actually pro-
duced for both Italian and "native" schoolchildren in Africa, as well as
other primers then in use there.17 Italian children beginning school in
111 Giornale Ufflciale del Governo Generale dell' Africa Orientale Italiana, V (1940),
606; see also R. Pankhurst, "Fascist Racial Policies in Ethiopia, 1922-1941," Ethiopia
Observer, XII (1969), 270-286.
112 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20210/159, 163, 203, P.R.O.
113Diel, Mussolini, 101; Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/23377/420, P.R.O.
114 Svensson, Abessinien, 548-549.
115 Giornale UIficiale del Governo Generale dell' Africa Orientale Italiana, II (1937),
207, 216-217.
116 G. L. Steer, Sealed and Delivered (London, 1942), 202.
117 Four Power Commission, Report on Eritrea, 69-70.

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East Africa were given a special textbook, Sillaborio e Piccole Letture,

published by the Ministry of Italian Africa, for their first year's study.
Compiled by Emilio Mirante, it was designed to introduce the child not
only to simple sentences and everyday objects and activities, but also to
the ethos of fascism. Side by side with sentences such as "I love papa"
and "my mamma! my love" were photographs of marching blackshirted
children crying the salute "Eia, alala!" and troops with the caption "Sol-
diers! soldiers!" There were also photographs of the principal personal-
ities of the Italian establishment, for example, the King of Italy with the
caption "Vittorio Emanuele III King of Italy, Emperor of Ethiopia" and
the slogan "Long live the King"; Pope Pius XI with the caption "The
Pope is the head of the Catholic Church"; and the Duce with the caption
"H. E. Benito Mussolini Head of the Italian Government." Besides sev-
eral photographs of Rome and others of Florence, Venice, Palermo,
Mount Vesuvius, Tripoli, Rhodes, and Malta, there was a page on the
fascio, the symbol of fascism, with a text which among other things de-
clared, "Benito Mussolini chose the fascio as a sign of Fascism to remind
Italians that they must be agreed to! love the fatherland, to respect its
laws, to defend it with all their strength in time of need, to work to
render it always greater."'18
The militaristic ideology of fascism was also expressed on a number of
pages. On one there was a reproduction of a flight of airplanes with the
words, "So many Italian aviators have taken our flag in flight in far off
lands,"1'9 while another page declared: "The military review. The troops
file by to the sound of musicians. The Italian soldiers lead: infantry,
cavalry, artillery men with their heavy cannon, carabinieri and fascist
militia, aviators, sailors. And here are the natives: Eritrean askari, Libyan
askari, zapte and meharisti in the most picturesque divisions."'12
This first textbook paid constant emphasis to the colonies, one page,
for example, declaring, "Benghasi is the most important city of Cyre-
naica. Addis Ababa is the capital of the Empire of Ethiopia conquered by
Italy. Asmara is the capital of Eritrea, Mogadishu that of Italian Somali-
land."121 A couple of pages were likewise devoted to the Balilla, or young
fascists. Beside an illustration of a blackshirted child giving the fascist
salute there were slogans such as "I love my Fatherland like my mamma,"
118 Italy, Ministero dell' Africa Italiana, Scuole elementari di tipo metropolitano,
Sillibario e prima lettura (Firenze, 1938), 92.
119 Ibid., 101.
120 Ibid., 138.
12 Ibid., o15.

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and "I wish well to the Duce who struggles to make Italy always stronger
and more respected."122
First year Italian children also used ordinary textbooks primarily in-
tended for schools in Italy, such as the Libro delle prima classe published
by the Libreria dello Stato. Written by Maria Zanetti, it contained nu-
merous illustrations of fascist and nationalist themes, such as the Italian
flag accompanied by the slogan "Soldiers do not abandon the, flag, not
even if they die,"123 a group of fascists in their blackshirt uniforms, the
house where the Duce was born, a child carrying the Italian flag, Musso-
lini embracing a schoolboy, crowds greeting the King Emperor with the
declaration "King Vittorio Emanuele the Italian people love you great-
ly,"124 a boy and girl giving the fascist salute with the slogan "Long live
the Fascio,"125 and a portrait of Mussolini with the words "Children,
love Benito Mussolini. Benito Mussolini has worked and works for the
Fatherland and the Italian people."126 Many pages were also, devoted to
the empire, with passages on the life of Italian children in the colonies,
a film showing Mussolini on horseback and warfare in the mountains of
Ethiopia, and a speech of the Duce's in which he is quoted as proclaiming
"the war is finished. Ethiopia is Italian."127
In their second year Italian pupils received the Ministry of Italian
Africa's Libro dell II Classe, which was written by Signora O. Quercia
Tanzarella and maintained its predecessor's propagandist tone. The primer
included chapters on fascist ideology, photographs of the Duce, King
Vittorio Emanuele, and various fascist processions, and scenes from an-
cient Rome interspersed with short stories and fables, several of them
with an African setting. One characteristic chapter introduced the child
to the city of Rome and in particular to the Colosseum, the Pantheon,
St. Peter's, and Mussolini's office at the Palazzo Venezia, where a conver-
sation is reported in which the teacher exclaims of the Duce, "'I would
like to see Him.' 'Me too! me too!' replied all the students."128 Other
laudatory chapters were devoted to Mussolini's march on Rome in 1922
and the annual commemoration thereof, as well as to the affection which
122Ibid., 132-133.
123 La Libreria dello Stato, II libro dell prima classe (Rome, 1937), 58.
124 Ibid., 45.
125 bid., 106-107.
126 Ibid., 61.
127 Ibid., 138-139; see also A. Vezzani, Via agrese. Sillabario e piccole ad uso della
prima classe elementare machile e femminile. Ediziono speciale per le scuole elementare
dell' A.O.I. (Torino, 1937).
128 Ministero dell' Africa Italiana, Scuole elementari di tipo metropolitano, II libro
dell II classe (Firenze, 1939), 13.

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all good Italians were supposed to feel for the dictator, tol whom the text-
book attributed almost divine qualities and a passionate concern for the
welfare of overseas Italians and their children:
The Duce is in all hearts; his name is on all lips.

If He had been present he would have felt how he is loved by Italians
far from their Fatherland, which his assiduous and tenacious work has
made strong and feared as in ancient time the name of imperial Rome
was strong and feared. If he were present he would feel how peoples
whom Italy redeemed and whom Fascism raises and civilises with steady
and illuminated will, admire him.
His virile face is known to all, his eagle eyes scrutinize all hearts; but
there is also, in his proud bearing, the light of a smile, and a smile which
the Duce dedicates to young children.
The Duce loves young children above everything, because he has im-
mense faith in them, and knows that in every house they are rendering
themselves worthy of his affection and doing honour to their distant
Fatherland.129
The fascist spirit likewise found expression in the geographical sec-

tions such as the one on the Mediterranean, entitled "Our sea," which
contained the following somewhat idiotic conversation: "An Italian girl
must perforce know how to, swim. Why? Because Italy is a maritime
nation."130 Another chapter on Italy, "the garden of Europe," proclaimed,
"The Italians are a most civilised people, and they carry their civilisation
wherever they go: truly fortunate are the countries which Italy has col-
onised and which will soon become gardens of delight like the Father-
land."131 Patriotic thoughts were also evoked in sychophantic chapters on
King Vittorio Emanuele, Crown Prince Umberto, and the latter's visit
to Libya.
Second year Italian children in Africa made use of textbooks designed
for use by their brothers and sisters in Italy. One such primer, Italiano
nuova, was written for the Libreria dello Stato by Alfredo Petrucci and
contained the customary fascist illustrations, such as of a boy saluting the
Duce, and chapters telling of the dispatch of Italian troops to Africa,
fighting in the Ethiopian province of Tembien, and the story of a puppet
show in which an Italian called Geppino defeats an Ethiopian Ras
Dammeletetu,l32 while another textbook, especially produced for Italian
129 Ibid., 25-27.

130 Ibid., 82.
131 Ibid., 88.
132 La Liberia dello Stato, L'Italiano nuovo. Letture della 2 classe elementare (Rome,
1939).

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schools abroad by Clementina Bagagli, contained sections on the Duce,

the fascio, and Italian aircraft.133
On attaining their third year Italian youth proceeded to, the Ministry
of Italian Africa's Libro della terza classe, which was written by Signora
Tanzarella and took its readers further into fascist ideology. Typical pas-
sages declared Mussolini the "leader of a great Nation" and the fascio the
symbol of "force and justice." Besides the now all too, familiar photo-
graphs of the Duce, King Vittorio Emanuele, the Italian flag, black-
shirted processions, and the antiquities of ancient Rome, there were na-
tionalistic and fascist songs and poems, including the song of the! Balilla
corps, the fascist hymn, better known as "Giovinezza," and the "Inno di
Mameli." The student was now co'nsidered mature enough tot receive
much loinger historical sketches. He was given passages on the "greatness"
of Garibaldi, the exploits of several nineteenth and early twentieth-
century personalities, and the text of the Italian victory bulletin at the
close of World War I. Attentioln was also directed to the Italo,-Ethiopian
war. Recalling that o,nly four years previously, on 2 October 1935, the
Duce had delivered his address, to, forty million Italians announcing ac-
tion that was to, lead to the creation of a "great African empire," one
chapter declared:
The Italian people, confident in the word of the Chief, prepared itself
for the great enterprise with cheerful enthusiasm, as if they had been
treated to a feast. Their confidence was not misplaced, despite the coali-
tion of as many as 52 nations which revenged themselves o,n the initia-
tive taken by our Fatherland . . . in only seven monthsi the Empire of
Ethiopia was conquered, an Empire three times as large as Italy! On
May 9 of the following year the Duce, from the balcony of the Piazza
Venezia, announced to the world that the great undertaking was accom-
plished, and proclaimed the Roman Empire restored, after fifteen cen-
turies, under the insignia o'f the victors' fascio.'34
Another chapter outlined the course of the campaign and told of the
heroism of the Duce's two, sons, Bruno and Vito, Mussolini, who had re-
ceived medals of valor on the field of battle. The author declared:
Mussolini is always right: he restored the Roman empire; he restored

the power and justice o'f Rome. The very fact o'f rising after fifteen cen-
turies signifies that the Empire and the power of Rome are immortal,
131 Scuole Italiane all' Estero, Lettura classe Seconda (Rome, 1932); see also L.
Fiordi, T. Trento, and F. Mariani, Sulle vie del sapere (Rome, 1938).
134 Ministero dell' Africa Italiana, Scuole elementari di tipo metropolitano, I1 libro
della terza classe (Firenze, 1939), 149-150.

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and imperishable as the, souls of those who know how to die for the
Fatherland.
Glory to you, soldiers of Italy! Glory to you, blackshirts! Glory to you,
heroic askari and dubat who adopted Italy as your Fatherland!
Glory to you, invincible Duce, and to you, our King and Emperor!
The line of Savoy will endure for centuries! 35
Other textbooks used at this stage included a reading book entitled

Patria, written for the Libreria dello Stato by Adele and Maria Zanetti
and consisting of various stories about fascism, the march on Rome, the
King Emperor, "the glorious troops in Africa," and so forth.136 The Li-
breria dello, Stato also produced two other primers entitled II libro della
terze classe elementare, by Grazia Deledda and Nazareno Padellaro, re-
spectively, which dealt with various fascist themes such as the "fascist
revolution" or march on Rome. Padellaro's textbook, which ended with
chapters on the "Abyssinian enterprise" and "the Empire," also, carried
many slogans instructing its readers, for example, to "obey, because it is
necessary to obey," a story drawing attention to the fact that the letter
M was the initial for both the words mother and Mussolini, and a poem
on "the Duce and the child" in which the founder of fascism is made to
declare that he "fought and is fighting for you, sweet little Italian child."137
A supplementary textbook produced for Italian children in Africa by
the Ministry of Italian Africa and entitled Libro sussidiario per la terze
classe elementare was divided into six sections on religion, history, gram-
mar, arithmetic, geography and natural science, and hygiene. The histori-
cal section was largely devoted to the glory of Italy, and contained
eulogistic accounts of the fascist seizure of power which had made Musso-
lini "not only Duce of fascism, but alsol Duce of Italy by him renewed,"
and chapters on the "New Italy" of Mussolini, the "civilising work" of
Italy in Libya, the Ethiopian war, and the Duce's proclamation of May
1936 establishing the Italian empire in Africa. The geographical section,
though more sober in tone, was almost entirely concerned with Italy and
its possessions which now included Albania, whose representatives, we
are told, had acclaimed Vittorio, Emanuele III, king of Italy and emperor
of Ethiopia, king of Albania as well.'38 More advanced textbooks fol-
'35 Ibid., 151-152.

136 La Libreria dello Stato, II libro di lettura per la IIIa classe dei centri urbani,
Patria (Rome, n.d.).
137 La Lilbreria dello Stato, II libro della terza classe elementare Letture (Rome,
1937), 189.
138 Ministero dell' Africa Italiana, Scuole elementari di tipo metropolitano, Libro
sussidario per la terza classe elementare (Firenze, 1939), 356; see also, Scuole italiane
ali' estero, II libro della III classe elementare, Storia. Geografia. Aritmetica (Rome, 1932).

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lowed the lines already described, often highlighting various aspects of

the Ethiopian war. Besides a chapter pompously entitled "Caesar and
Mussolini," the Libreria dello Stato's fourth year textbook had others on
"the first gold medal in East Africa," the militia at the Waru pass, the
capture of Addis Ababa, and the Italian empire,'39 while the fifth year
textbook, which was arranged on the basis of the calendar, opened with
the month of October, which had witnessed perhaps the two most im-
portant events of fascist history, the march on Rome and the opening of
the Ethiopian war,'40 while a privately published textbook, II mio libro
di temo d'Italiano, by Cesare Paperini, developed a lengthy discussion on
how "the hearts of all Italians" were in Africa where "our legionaries"
had fought to create an empire in which Italians could emigrate and find
work. The reader was informed that the empire would soon become "a
wonderful thing," a dreamland where Italian youth could work, thus con-
tinuing the "great battle of civilisation" which the legionaries had begun.4'
Italian textbooks for "natives" were markedly different from those in-
tended for nationals, but were also primarily concerned with the dissem-
ination of fascist ideas. The Ministry of Italian Africa's second year text-
book for "natives," Libro della seconda classe, contained chapters de-
scribing the life of an Ethiopian child attending a school, on the classroom
walls of which, we are explicitly informed, were portraits of the King
Emperor, the Queen of Italy, and the Duce, besides maps of Italy and
Ethiopia. Later chapters, copiously illustrated with photographs of the
leaders of the Italian fascist state, presented a romanticized account of the
life and family of the King Emperor, who was described as "very good,
educated and wise," and the early life of the "schoolboy Benito Musso-
lini" who, the reader is told, loved reading and spent many hours with
his books. The primer also included short fables and notes on a variety of
interesting or useful topics, such as the sun, moon, and stars, the four
points of the compass, the hours of the clock, rivers, forests, trees and
flowers, various animals and insects, and several occupations, among
them those of the farmer and herdsman.
Of greater political significance were chapters on Italy and the Italian
139 La Libreria dello Stato, II libro della IV classe elementare. Letture (Rome, 1939);
see also La Libreria dello Stato, II libro della IV classe elementare. Letture (Rome,
1936); La Libreria dello Stato, II libro della V classe elementare. II balilla Vittorio
(Rome, 1936); La Libreria dello Stato, II libro dello quinta classe elementare. Letture
(Rome, n.d.).
140 La Libreria dello Stato, II libro della quinta classe. Testo di letture per le alunne.
Amor di Patria (Rome, 1939); see also La Libreria dello Stato, II libro della V Classe
elementare. Religione. Stor?a. Geografico. Aritmetica. Scienze (Rome, 1937).
1,1 C. Paperini, II mio libro di temi d'Italiano (Torino, 1938), 138.

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empire, illustrated with photographs of ancient Rome and Italy's modern

African possessions. The student was informed that "Italy is one of the
greatest nations of Europe, it is rich and powerful."142 There were like-
wise chapters of politico-moral precepts; one of the most praised quali-
ties, significantly enough, was obedience, a typical passage declaring,
"Always be obedient children." Another passage advised the student to
"love . . . your teachers whol teach you tol love Italy, the common
mother."143 Considerable emphasis was also, paid to, the need for loyalty
to the Italian state. There was a chapter on the flag, which was pictured
in full color, with the exhortation, "O children of Ethiopia, love the three
colours of the Italian flag, because it is your flag, salute it, raising your
right hand towards it, and promise to serve it with faithfulness and
honour."144 A chapter of the fascio similarly declared, "O children of
Ethiopia, you must feel proud to belong to the great Italian nation, and
to work under the insignia of the victor's fascio." Cleanliness, according
to official policy, also received its share of attention, with observations
such as "Good children, every morning on rising, wash themselves with
cold water and soap."'45
In their third year "native" children received the Ministero dell' Africa
Italiana's Libro delta terza classe, which was written by Fulviol Contini
and apparently produced largely with an eye to Libya. As in books used
for earlier grades, much emphasis was put on the virtues of obedience to
the fascist state, since the student was by now regarded as potential can-
non fodder. A chapter on the King of Italy contained the injunction:
When you enter class in the morning, child, salute your King. He is
the supreme Head of the Nation, the first citizen of Italy ....
Salute, child, the Victorious King, citizen and soldier, whenever you
enter your class.146
The next chapter, a revealing one, explained the attitude expected of

the co,lonial student, and commanded:
My little Mohammed, when you enter school, lift your purest heart to
the Majesty of the King Soldier, and repeat the promise of your faithful
love.
142 Ministero dell' Africa Italiana, Scuole elementari per indigeni dell' Africa Ori-
entale Italiana, II Libro della seconda classe (Firenze, 1939), 34.
143 Ibid., 42, 55.
144 Ibid., 46.
145 Ibid., 25.
146 Ministero dell' Africa Italiana, Scuole elementari per indigeni, II libro delta terza
classe (Firenze, 1937), 28.

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To the Duce who watches you with his profound, immovable and
scrutinising eyes, you must say, raising the arm and stretching out the
hand: "If I cannot myself be a Balilla I will nevertheless always be at
your orders."147
A chapter on the flag similarly contained an injunction of obedience.

"On your feet, children, stretch high the arm to salute the flag of Italy,
your flag! It is the symbol of the Fatherland."'48 Adulation of the Italian
royal family was also encouraged; one chapter declared that the Queen
of Italy was "a true angel of goodness. ... She loves children very much,
succours the poor, and comforts the unfortunate."149 Propaganda, as in
the earlier primer, was combined with appeals for health and sanitary
hygiene. The schoolboy was told, "Do not be afraid of water; a cold bath
gives energy and health, makes work easier and more pleasant."150 Or
again, "When personal, domestic and public hygiene are scrupulously
observed epidemics do, not attack."'51 Such observations were supple-
mented by two, chapters of more detailed medical instruction including
the following: "If your eyes are ill, run to the docto!r at once, without
making use of medicines or cures suggested by laymen ... wash the eyes
frequently with clean water and keep the hands very clean."152 By this
stage a good proportion of the indigenous schoolchildren were being
groomed for service in the army, and the textbook included several illus-
trated chapters praising various units of the "native troops" who, the
student was informed, had been organized by the Italian government "in
such a way as to arouse the admiration of foreigners."'53
The restricted character of education for "natives" is clearly apparent
from the Ministry of Italian Africa's supplementary textbook for them,
which corresponded to that issued for Italian children but contained en-
tirely different historical sections. This edition suppressed the greater
part of the Italian history syllabus, including chapters on the disunity of
Italy in 1815, the struggle for Italian unity, Mazzini's movement for
"Young Italy," the "Liberal Reforms" of Pope Pius IX, the revolution of
1848, Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand, and the work of Count
Cavour. Indigenous children were instructed instead on the glories of the
ancient Roman empire, after which their historical studies jumped almost
147 Ibid., 29-31.

148 Ibid., 31.
149 Ibid., 80.
150 Ibid., 7.
151 Ibid., 70.
152Ibid., 107.
153 Ibid., 87.

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a millennium to the Turkish "domination" of Libya and its "very un-

happy" conditions, before turning to the Italian occupation of Eritrea and
Libya, the "great work" of Mussolini, and Italy's conquest of Ethiopia
which, the reader was taught, was "gloriously" achieved by the Duce.l54
The highly political and militaristic nature of Italian schooling for
Ethiopians is confirmed by the Hansons, who told of a school at Addis
Alem "where a priest from Italy taught Italian, religion, and some geog
raphy and arithmetic to the boys," but add, "There were no blackboards,
but on the walls were many large charts. There were illustrations of
tanks, guns and other war material. The boys were being instructed in
the use and care of guns."155 Diel likewise recorded that at Aksum "na-
tve schoolboys . .. recited by heart the Duce's life-story in Italian, with
a full list oif dates, and then held out their almost white palms for
reward."156 Polson Newman recalled that "everywhere we went the na
tives stood up, and almost all gave the Fascist salute." He added that at
Dessie he found the boys "doing physical training under a lieutenant of
Alpini," while at Asmara "one little brown-eyed piccanini about four
years old stood up in front of the class, gave the Fascist salute, and
solemnly pronounced in Italian: 'The Duce likes good boys black as well
as white.' "157 A leading apologist for the invasion of Ethiopia, the sam
observer went on to no,te that discipline was "taught from the earlies
stages," and that "naturally the teaching and outdoor exercises at all
native schools are on Fascist lines, and loyalty to the King-Emperor and
the Duce takes a prominent part in school life."158 On the fascist philos-
ophy of colonial education he declared, "although the natives of Abys-
sinia are now offered such education as will fit them for ordinary occupa-
tions within their own sphere, there is no, intention of Europeanising
these people." He explained that "the Italians maintain that the experi-
ence of other colonial Powers has shown that such a policy usually end
in trouble," and somewhat naively added, "if trouble does come in Italia
East Africa, I do, not think it will be the result of over-educating natives."159
The character of colonial education developed by fascist Italy was
later summed up by a British officer, Gandar Dower, who arrived in East
Africa immediately after the collapse of Mussolini's rule and opined,
"Under the Italians, native education served a political purpose . ... The
154 Ministero delle Colonie, Scuole elementari per indigeni, Libro succidario per l
terza classe elementare (Firenze, 1939), passim.
155 Hanson, For God and Emperor, 62.
156 Diel, Mussolini, 137.
157 Poison Newman, New Abyssinia, 30, 37, 110.
158Ibid., 110-111.
159 Ibid., 18-19.

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text-books, expensively produced, were written in Italian, and glorified

the Duce on almost every page. Military service was lauded. Boys were
encouraged to become 'little soldiers of the Duce'; the Fascist salute was
compulsory, and at the morning hoisting of the flag Italian songs were
sung."160 Actual educational achievement during this period was limited,
however; this fact was underlined by George Steer, the British officer in
charge of Allied war propaganda, who noted that in drafting leaflets for
distribution among Italian askari he and his colleagues worked on the
"assumption, gained ... by experience," that only "about five per cent of
our readers in the Italian colonial army were literate."161
By 1940/1941 Italian East Africa was in fact almost educationally
bankrupt. In Eritrea at the time of Italy's collapse the British found, as
Trevaskis noted, that "there were no trained teachers, no suitable school
text-books, and only a few school buildings."162 Conditions in Ethiopia
were even worse, for the second-rate Italian schools operated in this
period were no substitute for the prewar Ethiopian government schools
which, as we have seen, had virtually all been closed. T. Konovalov, a
Russian observer who remained in the country throughout this period,
later affirmed that "under Italy the principal schools did not function;
they were occupied by different offices of the Italian administration and
military services. To build new ones was out of the question. During the
five years of Italian occupation, not a single boy entered the old schools
and only the priests and private teachers continued the task of teaching
the primary classes."'63 Moreover, many o,f the prewar educated Ethio-
pians had been killed, both at the time of the invasion and during the
Graziani massacre. "A good part of the new intelligentsia," Konovalov
recalled, "perished during the war and in the following struggle with the
invaders."'64 A. D. Bethell, a British commercial expert, noted immedi-
ately after Ethiopia's liberation in 1941 that the inevitable consequence
of these events and policies was "a terrible dearth of trained Ethiopian
personnel," and he commented, "it will in fact, take the schools ten years
to make up the leeway."165
Fascist educational policy in East Africa was essentially a failure.
Despite the great emphasis on political obedience and military discipline
16o Ministry of Information, First to be Freed, 33.

161 Steer, Sealed and Delivered, 93.
162Trevaskis, Eritrea, 33.
163 T. Konovalov, "History of Ethiopia" (unpublished manuscript, Hoover Institu-
tion, Stanford, California), 354, 379.
164 Ibid., 379.
165 A. D. Bethell, "Commerce and Industry in Ethiopia since the Re-Conquest," New
Times and Ethiopia News, 4 November 1944.

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the youth of the empire made little contribution in the time of crisis
which followed Mussolini's entry into the European war in June 1940,
the local inhabitants in particular displaying only the most perfunctory
loyalty to their Italian masters. The rigid racial discrimination proclaimed
by fascism, the attempt to develop the empire with Italian skilled labor
alone, and the stultifying policy of providing only the most limited
schooling to the indigenous population were likewise detrimental. After
the fascist collapse the country found itself largely destitute of the skilled
personnel required to face the problems of independence.

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Education in Ethiopia during the Italian Fascist Occupation (1936-1941)

Author(s): Richard Pankhurst

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/217091

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ITALIAN FASCIST OCCUPATION (1936-1941)

Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, the greatest colonial war ever fought on

The International Journal of African Historical Studies, v, 3 (1972) 361

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1 R. Pankhurst, Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 (Addis Ababa, 1968), 666-

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cation was conducted by Italian Capuchins, who, employed forty-fou

In practice .. . there appears to be little modification of the official at

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10 Four Power Commission, Report on Eritrea, appendix 86.

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15 Festa, "Le istituzioni educative in Eritrea," 295.

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The education provided by the existing didactic programmes up to the

Emphasizing the educational aspects he considered most important, he

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28 Direzione Superiore degli Affari Civile del Governo, "L'istruzione elementare ai

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Fascist colonial policy also, devoted some attention to questions of

29 Ministero delle Colonie, Bollettino Ufficiale, XIV, 315.

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would lose their familiarity with "our beautiful and harmonio

32 A. M. Perbellini, "I1 meticci linguistici. Del Parlare italiano con gli in

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37 "La scuola e le istituzioni educative," 678-679.

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also saw the initiation of a government school for Italian childre

44 "La scuola e istituzioni educative," 682.

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of the mobilisation of teachers." Student dropout rates seem to have been

52 Four Power Commission, Report on Eritrea, 69.

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The subsequent attempt on Graziani's life and the ensuing fasci

56 Great Britain, Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20927/287, Public Record Office,

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Such military maneuvers caught the eye of other observers. An American

1. Political Education. Supreme authorities: His Majesty the King

64 Foreign Office, F. 0. 371/20927/30, P.R.O.

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Libya, as the Gioventu Etiopica del Littorio, or Ethiopian Youth of the

Mussolini is our friend,

68 A. Del Boca, The Ethiopian War 1935-1941 (Chicago, 1969), 228.

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74Governatorato di Addis Ababa, Rivista del Governatorato (Addis Ababa, 1939),

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the hands of Roman Catholic missionaries, but was extremely

82 Ibid., 683; Diel, Mussolini, 37.

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thirteen primary schools in provincial Shoa employing over sixty teachers

After the occupation, Italian troops in Harar province immediately

87 Governatorato di Addis Ababa, La capitale dell' Impero, 69-70.

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In the course of my travels, I saw school-houses of bamboo, wood, straw