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Volume 14, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2211-6249
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Abstract

Abstract

In the context of Fascism and National Socialism, politically-themed literary fiction for the youth was often employed as a bridge between public education and pre-military training, aiding the continued indoctrination of young people. This article analyses two prominent Fascist and national-socialist youth novels— by Gino Fornari (1940) and by Karl Aloys Schenzinger (1932)—to observe this praxis in a comparative context. Focusing on the representation of two primary themes in the fascist education of youth—violence and self-sacrifice—it examines the narrative strategies employed to encourage identification, agitation and emulation in the reader. Despite a similar depiction of the enemy, a discernible interest in exceptional individual qualities emerges on the Fascist side, contrasting with the Nazi will to self-nullification. Consequently, the authors allow for different degrees of agency in the conversion of their protagonists, reflected in their unequal access to violence. Finally, the contrasting narratives of youth martyrdom, as presented in the novels, are contextualised within the shifting political priorities that characterised the distinct historical phases of the regimes in question.

© Gilda Yael Bassani.
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2025-12-10
2025-12-15
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): education; Fascism; Germany; Italy; martyrdom; National Socialism; violence; youth literature

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