(Adnkronos) – New details and new background on the many events that marked the history of Italy from 1948 to 1970 are available to researchers, who can thus investigate controversial facts with unprecedented aspects thanks to the papers of the Department of Affairs reserved by the Ministry of the Interior.
In addition to the paper consultation, which can already take place since 2019 in the collections room of the Central State Archives (directed by Simona Greco), in about a year historians will be offered the possibility of examining documents in virtual format thanks to the digitization of about 72 thousand files of the General Directorate of Public Security of the Ministry internal.
The study of these papers provides a special insight into the many episodes and personalities from the first part of the history of the republic: these are the minutes, reports and drafts of the secret services and the political police, for example on strikes, riots, street demonstrations and so on. The situation is conservative with county politics, vigilant judges, Italians suspected of espionage, CCP militants and right-wing figures. But there are also materials about the High Commissioner for sanctions against fascism, which have been in effect since 1944, and about opponents of the regime. Once all the documents are in place, there will be more than 400,000 “digital objects” that researchers can refer to, with the associated limitations of respecting privacy-sensitive data.
This protection operation is led by the Central State Archives, appointed by law to preserve the memory of our country, of which Andrea de Pasquale is Director General and Supervisor, and is committed to coordinating numerous projects to enhance the vast inventory of material at the headquarters of the EUR. The task of digitizing 72,000 files was entrusted to the Csa consortium, a leading company in the online planning sector of cultural heritage.
The ultimate goal of digitizing the unpublished documents of the Viminale’s Special Affairs Section, located in 1996 in Rome, in a deposit related to the offices of the Public Security Department in via della Circonvallazione Appia, was set for the year 2023. From there, 72,000 files were transferred to the “Davide Campari” barracks in Rome for examination (at that time also seized by the judiciary) and finally transfer to the Central State Archives.
Within the framework of preventing and suppressing crimes against state security, the collection of information on persons potentially dangerous to the democratic system, starting in 1948, led to the formation of thousands of name files by the Secret Affairs Division.
The documents in the deposit in the Via della Circonvallazione Appia generally date back to the end of the 1960s, but some files contain documents from later years and were produced by offices that carried out intelligence and counter-terrorism activities in the 1970s, such as the Department of Public Information and Internal Security, and the General Inspectorate of Public Security To combat terrorism, the Central Bureau of General Investigations and Special Operations.
The digitization of 72,000 files – followed personally by Maurizio Villani, head of the CSA’s Department of Culture – will make it possible to ‘save’ the papers from the wear and tear in which they were stored, or rather abandoned, until 1996, the year of their discovery. The digital acquisition concerned the files in their entirety: not only minutes and reports but also accompanying newspaper clippings and photographs taken during examinations and investigations complete with the remains. These coils deteriorate largely due to the wear and tear of time and above all due to the humidity that they have suffered for about twenty years.
Before proceeding with the digitization of the so-called “Circonvallazione Appia” documents, the Central State Archives, with its specialized staff, monitors the filing and, if necessary, orders the intervention of the Restoration Laboratory (within the Istituto), for example in damaged documents such as thin tissue paper or pages with ink Faded or distorted images with glue, plastic or staples. Once we have finished categorizing each document, we move on to computerizing the archiving; Finally, the CSA technicians responsible for the digital acquisition using the “planetary scanners” got down to business.
According to the directives of the Prime Ministers of 2008, 2014 and 2021, access to documents of central state bodies declassified in the Central State Archives is ensured. Consultation is reached after signing a “commitment to respect the rules of ethics” approved by the regulations of the Superintendent of the Central Archives.
Documentation of the Special Affairs Section was discovered on October 4, 1996 by the historian Aldo Giannulli, who in addition to his academic activity carried out the task of advisor to the Milan court judge Guido Salvini and to the Parliamentary Commission on Massacres. It was during an investigation on behalf of Judge Salvini, who at that time was conducting a new investigation into right-wing terrorism and the Piazza Fontana massacre, that Giannulli got into the secret archives of the Abyan ring road. From there, a research work was born that also turned into some books, such as “Parallel State” (1997) and “Stories of Conspiracies and Trials” (1991).
At the time, it was defined as a sensational discovery because tens of thousands of files contained an incredible mass of information about the work of the Italian secret services and police. Moreover, these files were not indexed, in practice they were secret and only a few knew about them.
The material obtained, seized by several public prosecutors, has been used in three investigations by the judiciary: one by the Milan public prosecutor’s office, for the case for the Piazza Fontana massacre; one from the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome, for the proceedings against Gianadelio Maletti (former head of Section D (counterespionage) of the Master) and others; the third by the Venetian magistrate, Carlo Mastelloni, in the criminal proceedings relating to the Argo 16 case. Inside the Appian ring road depot several papers from 1960 onwards are authenticated by Silvano Russomanno of the Department of Seized Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior, as evidenced by Same files, number two boss Federico Umberto D’Amato.
All documents were the subject of an archival report ordered by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome and entrusted to three experts (Paola Carocci, Mario Misseri and Gerardo Badolo); It was handed over to the judiciary on December 27, 1996, and for information it was sent to six prosecutors and three instruction offices of the courts of Milan, Rome and Venice.
In October 1948, the Department of General Affairs and Reserved Affairs was split into two, and thus the Department of General Affairs and the Department of Reserved Affairs were created. The latter took over from the abolished Division of Information and Special Services – the State Information Service, which was created in 1946. The responsibilities of the Department of Seized Affairs relate to the prevention and suppression of crimes against state security. Supervision of dangerous or suspicious foreigners for enterprise security; Vigilance regarding elements that pose a threat to the democratic system. By order of the Chief of Police dated November 24, 1970, the Department of Seized Affairs assumed the name of the Department of Public Information and Homeland Security.