Gli italiani in Belgio durante la Seconda guerra mondiale: sovranità, fedeltà, tradimento?

This dissertation analyses the judicial repression of “Italians” residing in Belgium who were accused of incivism. Through a micro-historical approach, the study reconstructs individual trajectories of collaboration with the German occupier, critically examining the notions of “Italianità,” loyalty, and national belonging. Italian citizenship emerges as an ambivalent legal category, strategically employed by defendants—either as a means of legal defense or as a tool to seek potential social reintegration.
The research is structured into four chapters and spans three historical periods: the 1930s, the Occupation (1940–1944), and the post-Liberation repression. It explores attempts to fascistize the Italian community, the various forms of collaboration (ideological and accommodative), the workings of Belgian military justice, tensions with Italian antifascists, and the use of expulsion. The final chapter focuses on the consequences of convictions and the diplomatic pressure exerted by the Italian state.
This study fills a historiographical gap by offering a critical reading of the dynamics of justice and identity in postwar Europe.