The Young Teachers

Set in the mountains and villages of Northern Italy near the end of World war 2nd, “The young teachers” (I piccoli maestri)shows the difficult situation of the period. The only allowed ideology was fascism and nobody could oppose Mussolini’s dictatorship.

The country was under the fascist dominion and controlled by the German troops led by Hitler. The people who declared to be against Fascism had serious social problems and not only: German troops did not care about Italian population, the people who did not side with them were eliminated. This uneasy and difficult situation made a lot of people reflect on their conditions. But nobody had the courage to tell their ideas against the war and the events which were happening around them except for a group of young people, mainly university students, (but not prepared to fight in a war). They were against Fascism and Nazism and tired of the war, at first they tried to help people in need offering them support and food (which they stole from the rich)but a lot of people refused their help because they feared for their lives since the Germans killed anyone who accepted the partisans’ help. But soon the Germans got to know about the existence of these rebels (the partisans)and started to chase and arrest or kill them.

In order not to be caught, the partisans lived in the mountains both in summer and winter, but soon they realized that they needed weapons to defend themselves and fight Fascist and Nazis. They managed to get some guns from a companion who knew a shelter abandoned by the British. They were chased by the German troops and some of them died but they did not lose their hope and enthusiasm. More and more young people joined them and at last they decided to leave the mountains and go to Padoa to free the town from the German invaders. After a fierce struggle and the surrender of the German troops, they managed to free the town before the arrival of the American allies.