The embodiment of British Italian war memory? The curious marginalization of Dennis Donnini, VC

Ugolini examines the contested nature of Second World War commemoration among the Italian diasporic community in Britain. Traditionally, many ethnic groups in Britain use evidence of war-time military service as a way of forging a sense of belonging in the national imaginary but Italian memorialization tends to focus on the war-time experience of internment rather than service in the British forces. In particular, Ugolini assesses the communal neglect of the heroic story of Fusilier Dennis Donnini, a Victoria Cross winner of Italian parentage. She argues that the silence surrounding second-generation Italians who fought in British uniform reflects the durability of the concept of the 'good Italian' that prevailed in the interwar period when Mussolini's Fascist regime aimed 'to secure the allegiance' of diasporic communities to the Fascist movement in Italy. The configuration of the 'enemy alien' internee as the 'good Italian' within memorial activity reinforces the historiographic displacement of the experiences of those who served, and died, in British uniform. While Dennis Donnini VC embodies heroism and martial valour, his experience does not conform to the dominant narrative of war-time victimhood that, in turn, succeeds in diverting attention away from the complexities of Italian diasporic allegiances and an interwar communal elite compromised by it apparent support of Fascism.