Irma Bandiera, also known by the battle name Mimma, was a Bolognese partisan, active as a relay in a patriotic action group (GAP). Born in 1915 in an anti -fascist family, she joined the Resistance after the armistice of September 8, 1943. It was captured by the fascists on August 7, 1944 and tortured for six days. He resisted torture and did not reveal information to his torturers, who killed her on August 14 and abandoned the body on the street as a sign of warning. Today Irma is considered an example of courage and a heroine of the liberation war. His remains are buried at the monumental cemetery of the Certosa of Bologna in the partisan ossuary. For her courage, she was conferred on the posthumous gold medal for military valor.
The biography of Irma Bandiera
Irma Bandiera was born in Bologna on April 8, 1915 in a wealthy family. His father was a master’s degree who, in the years of the regime, developed anti -fascist political beliefs. Irma achieved the elementary license and found himself with a boy, Federico, who was recalled to weapons after the outbreak of the Second World War and sent to fight in Crete. After September 8, 1943, the day of the proclamation of the armistice, Federico was taken prisoner by the Germans, but the ship on which he traveled for the transfer to Germany was hit by a bomb and sank, causing the death of the passengers.
The activity in the resistance of “Mimma” and the adhesion to the Communist Party
Irma began to take an interest in politics after the armistice, lending help to the skidded soldiers, that is, the military who, after 8 September, abandoned the uniform and tried to return home.
The young woman joined the Communist Party, the most active political force in the resistance against the Germans and the fascists. In Funo, a hamlet of the municipality of Argelato, in the province of Bologna, where he often went to visit relatives, Irma met Dino Cipollani, a medical and partisan student. The woman thus entered the resistance, operating as a partisan relay. The relays, in charge of bringing communications, had an important role, because they guaranteed the connection between the different partisan formations. Generally the relays were women, because the controls of the Germans and fascists more easily passed.
Irma served as a relay for a communist formation, the VII Garibaldi Gap Brigade “Gianni” in Bologna, with the name of Battaglia Mimma. The gaps (patriotic action groups) were composed of partisans who acted clandestinely in the cities (unlike the bands, which were active in the mountains), making attacks and sabotages. They were the most feared formations by fascists and Germans and, when their members were caught, they were generally subjected to torture to reveal the name of the companions.
The arrest, torture and death of Irma flag: what happened to her
The fate of Irma was completed in August 1944. On day 5 the Gappists killed a German officer and a commander of the black brigades (one of the armed groups of the Italian Social Republic). The Nazi -fascists sparked a gunfight, during which three partisans captured. Among them was Irma, who was separated from the others, brought to Bologna and held in prison for six days, during which it was tortured to reveal names and addresses of his companions. Irma, however, did not speak. For the fascists and the Germans the resistance of the woman was a humiliation. According to the writer Renata Viganò, “the most ignominious defeat of their bleeding profession was called Irma Bandiera”.
For the young partisan, however, there was no escape. On August 14, the fascists killed her with some pistol shots fired in the burning and abandoned the body on the street, at a factory, as a warning for anyone on the side of the resistance.
The memory of Irma flag: the medal for value and the tomb
Irma is now considered a heroine of the liberation war. His myth affirmed himself immediately after his death. The Communist Party has already paid them during the resistance, titled in his name a partisan brigade and inviting the other partisans to continue in his name struggle for freedom. After the establishment of the Republic, roads and squares in various municipalities were entitled in Irma, including Argelato and Bologna.
In addition, the gold medal for posthumous military valor was conferred in Irma, with the following motivation:
First of the Bolognese women to challenge weapons for the struggle in the name of freedom, he always beat with Leonino courage. Captured in combat by the SS. Germans, subjected to fierce torture, did not say a word that could compromise his companions. After being blinded she was barbarously slaughtered and the body left on the public street. Pure heroine worthy of the virtues of the Italian women, he was bright lighthouse of all the Bolognese patriots in the liberation war.
Irma is buried in the monument-ossuary to the fallen partisans, located in the monumental cemetery of the Certosa of Bologna, and is remembered in the monument to the partisan falls of Villa Spada and in the sacraory of the partisans in Piazza Nettuno.
