Around 40 thousand people living on the Italian soil suffered deportations between 1943 and 1945, ending up in the lagers of the Third Reich managed by the SS. After exhausting journeys, deprived of affections, their own name and their dignity, they were treated as non-humans, as objects: considered enemies, traitors, threats, "scum", "ballast", "degenerates" or "of an inferior race".

Moving from their testimonies we have built a course, open to everyone, that combines the memories of those events with the general history of Europe during World War II. Starting from the international context, we will face the mechanisms that allowed the rise and consolidation of fascism and nazism, with particular emphasis on how it was possible for these movements, born in the public squares and aimed "at the belly" of people, to create consensus and transform in institutionalized dictatorships.

We will go through the complex lager system, massified deportation planning, classification of "unwanted" categories and exploitation of prisoners as slaves. We will also talk about the consequences on the present times, the paths of continuity between fascist and the post-war institutions, aiming at discussing contemporary phenomena, such as denial, neo-negationism, revisionism, "divided memories", and post-fascism.