«Un lavoro difficilissimo per una persona di coscienza». Le memorie della de-fascistizzazione italiana nelle parole degli epuratori [“A difficult job for a conscientious person”. Evidence for the anti-fascist purges of 1945-1946 in the records of people chosen for the task]

The following essay aims to analyse how Italian “defascistization” has been narrated, that is to say, the process of removal from public office, criminal proceedings and seizure of fascist assets that began after the fall of the regime and, with greater intensity, at the end of the Second World War. The point of view chosen is that of the agents appointed for the purging operations, that is, the “purifiers”, those who had the task of judging the past of others as representatives of the High Commissioner for Sanctions against Fascism, whether magistrates or politicians. Through direct testimonies and confidential investigations, we will try to understand the reasons behind the substantially negative memory of a phenomenon at the base of republican Italy.