The Radio Bari station, broadcasting from Bari in southern Italy, with a power of 20 kW, was commissioned by the Italian national broadcasting company, EIAR, in 1932.
By decision of the Fascist regime, in 1934 Radio Bari started to broadcast propaganda and counter-propaganda programmes, accompanied by music and political commentaries, for listeners in Arabic-speaking countries. These broadcasts, aired at regular intervals from 10.30 a.m. until 3 a.m., were received throughout the Mediterranean basin, reaching countries including Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, where British or French influence was at that time predominant. A few months later, the station also began to broadcast in the Greek language. The months that followed saw a true radio war, which lasted throughout World War II, including jamming of radio signals, between the Axis and Allied radio stations.
On 8 February 1938, propaganda pamphlets advertising the station were distributed from unknown sources via employing local Arab boys on the streets of Jerusalem. The pamphlets featured a schedule of programming for the week, as well as pro-Palestine Arab Nationalist messages quotations from American and English sources. [1]
The Bahrain branch of the Persian Gulf Radio Listeners' Committee in 1943 discussed whether it would behoove BBC Arabic to switch its program formatting to better compete with Radio Bari and Radio Zeesen. The committee concluded that it didn't matter because not many people listened to Radio Bari. [2]
On 8 September 1943, the Bari transmitter, one of the few still operating in southern Italy, was peacefully occupied by a group of local intellectuals politically close to the philosopher Benedetto Croce together with groups of anti-fascists, republicans, democrats and activists of the Action Party. With the help of some radio technicians, they were able to transmit on 11 September the first message of the King of Italy, Victor Emanuel III, after his departure from Rome. Radio Bari was thus able to broadcast the first broadcast of free Italy. Starting from 23 September 1943, the premises of Radio Bari were occupied by the Americans who immediately made it the organ of their headquarters in Algiers. The core programme was Italia combatte (Italy fights on) in which, while complying with the directives of the Allied Command, the speakers targeted the public opinion of southern Italy with interesting features full of news and testimonies from the front, as well as on guerrilla actions, together with information for partisans and anti-fascist propaganda. These political programmes were supported by "a lot of music for which an entire record store was seized". [3] In his 2011 history of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Italy in the years 1943-45, David Stafford says:
Contact with resistance groups was also maintained through Radio Bari. This was a station under allied control from which, every night at 2030 GMT, a special resistance programme, produced jointly by No. 1 Special Force and the Political Warfare Board Executive, was broadcast throughout Italy. It was through this link that general directives were sent to resistance groups, and that reception committees were alerted to supply drops. It would also be the means by which the resistance in general would be ordered to act when the signal was given." [4]
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton, by the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements.
The Italian Social Republic, known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy, but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò, was a Nazi-German puppet state with limited diplomatic recognition that was created during the later part of World War II, which existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of German troops in Italy in May 1945. The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against it and the Italian Social Republic, leading to the Italian Civil War.
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana, commercially styled as Rai since 2000 and known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels and radio stations. It is one of the biggest broadcasters in Italy, competing with Mediaset and other minor radio and television networks. RAI has a relatively high television audience share of 35.9%.
Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti was an Italian politician and leader of Italy's Communist party for nearly forty years, from 1927 until his death. Born into a middle-class family, Togliatti received an education in law at the University of Turin, later served as an officer and was wounded in World War I, and became a tutor. Described as "severe in approach but extremely popular among the Communist base" and "a hero of his time, capable of courageous personal feats", his supporters gave him the nickname il Migliore. In 1930, Togliatti renounced Italian citizenship, and he became a citizen of the Soviet Union. Upon his death, Togliatti had a Soviet city named after him. Considered one of the founding fathers of the Italian Republic, he led Italy's Communist party from a few thousand members in 1943 to two million members in 1946.
The Italian resistance movement is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy from 1943 to 1945. As a diverse anti-fascist movement and organisation, the Resistenza opposed Nazi Germany, as well as Nazi Germany's Italian puppet state regime, the Italian Social Republic, which the Germans created following the Nazi German invasion and military occupation of Italy by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS from 8 September 1943 until 25 April 1945.
During World War II, the Gran Sasso raid on 12 September 1943 was a successful operation by German paratroopers and Waffen-SS commandos to rescue the deposed Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from custody in the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif. The airborne operation was personally ordered by Adolf Hitler, approved by General Kurt Student and planned and executed by Major Harald Mors.
Rai Internazionale Radio, formerly known as Rai Italia Radio, Rai International Radio, Rai Satelradio and Raitalia Radio, was the official international broadcast radio service of Rai Internazionale, a subsidiary owned by RAI, Italy's public broadcaster.
Giustizia e Libertà was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945. The movement was cofounded by Carlo Rosselli, Ferruccio Parri, who later became Prime Minister of Italy, and Sandro Pertini, who became President of Italy.
The Italian Civil War was a civil war in the Kingdom of Italy fought during the Italian campaign of World War II between Italian fascists and Italian partisans and, to a lesser extent, the Italian Co-belligerent Army.
The Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia was a conflict fought from the summer of 1941 to the autumn of 1943 by remnants of Italian troops in Ethiopia and Somalia, in a short-lived attempt to re-establish Italian East Africa. The guerrilla campaign was fought following the Italian defeat in the East African Campaign of World War II, while the war was still raging in Northern Africa and Europe.
Italian irredentism in Corsica was a cultural and historical movement promoted by Italians and by people from Corsica who identified themselves as part of Italy rather than France, and promoted the Italian annexation of the island.
Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche was the public service broadcaster in Fascist Italy and the only entity permitted to broadcast by the government.
Radio London was the name used in Italy for the radio broadcasts of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), starting from 27 September 1938, aimed at the populations of German-dominated continental Europe.
Riccardo Fedel, also known by his nom de guerreLibero was an Italian anti-fascist, Communist political fighter, and partisan leader.
Maurizio Giglio was an Italian soldier and policeman. In September 1943, during World War II, the Italian government concluded an armistice with the Allies. He thereafter transmitted military intelligence by radio from Rome about the Nazi forces there to the Allied forces advancing through southern Italy. In March 1944, he was captured and was executed by the Nazis. He was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour, a decoration which acknowledges deeds of outstanding gallantry. Places have been named, and memorials dedicated, in his honour.
The Brigate Garibaldi or Garibaldi Brigades were partisan units aligned with the Italian Communist Party active in the armed resistance against both German and Italian fascist forces during World War II.
The Brigate Osoppo-Friuli or Osoppo-Friuli Brigades were autonomous partisan formations founded in the headquarter of the Archbishop Seminary of Udine on 24 December 1943 by partisan volunteers of mixed ideologies, already active in Carnia and Friuli before the Badoglio Proclamation of 8 September. The partisans in this brigade adhered to various and often conflicting ideologies, including both secularism and Catholicism, as well as socialism and liberalism.
Unione radiofonica italiana or URI, was an Italian radio broadcaster founded in Turin on 27 August 1924. It was the exclusive radio broadcaster of the Kingdom of Italy.
Radio Milano-Libertà, also referred to as Radio Milano Libertà or simply Radio Milano, was an Italian-language communist radio station, established in Moscow in 1937, which, during the Second World War, broadcast propaganda to Italy in support of the Italian resistance movement.
Mario Musolesi was an Italian soldier and Resistance leader during World War II.
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