The Republican Police 1943-1945

The Social Republic had its own Public Security structure, the Republican Police Corps, formed by a kind of dual soul: one territorial, engaged in the institutional tasks of the Police, and one more distinctly a child of the tremendous period that was being experienced, devoted mainly to the persecution of the political opponents of fascism, the partisans, and the hunting of jews. At times these two souls interpenetrated, although the division remained very sharp. Until now very little has been written about the events of the Republican Police, research has focused, for different and sometimes opposing reasons, mainly on those para-police units, often known as "gangs," devoted to the most violent and cruel activities, which operated mostly in close dependence with the Germanic commands. What has been left out, however, is the more institutional aspect of the Republican police, in whose ranks militated a great many honest and probable men, who, in many cases, also worked to save Jews or secretly militated in the Resistance. Far from having made a systematic and exhaustive study, an attempt has been made in these pages to summarize all aspects characterizing the structure of the police during the period of the Italian Social Republic.