ABSTRACT
War memorials are both sites of memory and narratives of national identity and can sometimes go against acknowledging a country’s difficult histories. BBPR’s Monument to the Fallen in Concentration Camps in Milan’s Monumental Cemetery both commemorates Italians who died in Nazi concentration camps and marks the end of the Fascist regime. Its abstraction was core to the architects’ design intention yet remains at odds with the need for a grieving site and the acknowledgement of Italy’s role in the deportation of Jews and political prisoners. This chapter engages with the broader question of abstraction in art and architecture by comparing an analysis of architectural intention and elite critique to contemporary reception through onsite vox pop–style interviews. The Monument accentuates a spurious distinction between history and memory: rather than allowing the Monument to be part of Italy’s difficult heritage, it demonstrates a form of identity, partitioning where the self-affirming narrative of Italy’s post–World War II identity as an anti-fascist nation obscures the reality of its fascist past.
