THIS FASCIST LIFE: RADICAL RIGHT MOVEMENTS IN INTERWAR EUROPE
– A NEW EXHIBITION
AT THE WIENER
HOLOCAUST LIBRARY
As right-wing radicalism grows in strength in Europe and elsewhere, this timely exhibition looks back to the first manifestations of the destructive phenomenon of fascism.
Fascist political parties, militia and movements emerged across Europe in the years after the First World War. United by ultra-nationalist ideas and similarities of style and action, these movements shaped, and in some places remade, politics and society. Fascist movements mobilised on the streets to attack their opponents and to support the accession to power of fascist parties in countries such as Italy, Germany and Austria. Later, they helped to enable German occupations and the Nazis’ policies of persecution and genocide across Europe.
This exhibition focuses on the experiences of rank and file members of fascist movements in the interwar period. It draws upon new research to explore people’s motivations for joining and remaining members; their day-to-day experiences of participation in marches, rallies, orchestrated violence, sports and leisure clubs. This Fascist Life examines the role played by the rituals and symbols adopted by fascists: their uniforms, salutes and songs. It explores the significance of notions of masculinity to these groups, as well as the cross-national connections between these nationally constituted organisations.
Alongside this exhibition, which runs until February 2022, the Library will be hosting a series of virtual and in-person events examining the phenomenon of fascism across Europe from the 1920s to more recent radical right movements.
The Wiener Holocaust Library and the European Fascist Movements 1918 – 1941 project are pleased to announce a new temporary exhibition, This Fascist Life: Radical Right Movements in Interwar Europe.
Wiener Library