Nino Garau, the Sardinian partisan who opposed Nazi-fascism

“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty,” says Bertolt Brecht. The Cagliari partisan Nino Garau, nom de guerre “Geppe”, did not remain insensitive to that duty. In the Modena area, with the "Aldo Casalgrandi" brigade, he offered his contribution to the fight against Nazi-fascism. On the occasion of the centenary of his birth (12 December 1923), the Sardinian Institute for the History of Anti-Fascism (Issasco), with Anpi, Anppia, the Historical Institute of Modena and Il Crogiuolo, dedicates to him, in Cagliari, on Friday 15 December, a day of studies in the “Emilio Lussu” Library (Monte Claro Park) starting at 5.30 pm. To remember Garau, Claudio Silingardi, of the Historical Institute of Modena, his son Dino, Francesca Nurra, Marco Sini and Alberto Bocchetta intervene. On stage the actors Rita Atzeri and Mario Faticoni to read some passages taken from the published memoir of the Cagliari anti-fascist.

The biography

Nino Garau's life changes radically after 8 September 1943, the turning point in the history of Italy. He is an officer student at the Caserta Air Force Academy (which he entered at the age of 17) but the time is serious and requires him to fulfill the duty referred to by Brecht. Garau, after the officers' escape, leaves the military school and wears another uniform. He travels up Italy, reaches the Modena area, which becomes the place of his Resistance. He is captured by the Germans and suffers violence and torture. He manages to escape from Verona prison. He reunites with his Brigade to participate in the liberation of Spilamberto and other centers in Emilia. Until his death in 2020, he witnessed the ideals of the Resistance. In the book "Geppe's Resistance, diary of a young Sardinian who chose to fight for freedom and democracy", edited by Walter Falgio, researcher and president of Issasco - there are his life and the values he defended.

«Nino – writes Falgio – wanted his writings to be read primarily by young men and women and, possibly, disseminated through schools».