Vittoria Nenni
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Vittoria Gorizia Daubeuf[1] (née Nenni; 31 October 1915 – 15 or 16 July 1943) was an Italian anti-fascist activist, active in the French Resistance during the Second World War. The daughter of Italian socialist politician Pietro Nenni, Vittoria and her family fled to France in 1928 to escape persecution and violence in Fascist Italy.
Nenni grew up in interwar France and married the publisher Henri Dabeuf in 1937. In 1942, during the Nazi occupation of France, Dabeuf was caught printing French Communist Party leaflets and executed by firing squad. Nenni was also arrested and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she spent seven months before dying of disease, probably typhoid fever.
Vittoria Gorizia Nenni[2] was born in Ancona on 31 October 1915[2][3] as the third[4][5] daughter of Pietro Nenni, later a central figure and leader of the Italian Socialist Party,[6][7] and Carmen Emiliani.[2] At the time of Vittoria's birth, Pietro fought in the Third Battle of the Isonzo.[2] Growing up, Vittoria was given the affectionate nickname Vivà by her family members.[4][8] She had two elder sisters, Giuliana and Eva, and a younger sister, Luciana.[2] The family eventually moved to Milan[1][2] and Vittoria began school in October 1922; she reportedly excelled in Italian and mathematics.[2]
In the 1920s, the Nenni family was repeatedly harassed and attacked by fascists. Incidents included a group of fascists terrorizing Vittoria on her way to school in 1926[4] and Vittoria returning home to find a group of Blackshirts destroying the family's apartment and threatening to make her father "end up like Matteotti".[2][8] A series of increasingly violent incidents eventually prompted the family to flee to France[4] in 1928,[1] taking up residence in Paris.[2]
Vittoria grew up in the Paris of interwar France, which experienced a relatively progressive political climate, unlike Fascist Italy.[5] Women could study and work, and there was a trend of increasing social freedom.[5] Vittoria attended secondary school in Paris.[1] Compared to her sisters, Vittoria was the least politically active and was not involved in the Italian Socialist Party, though she shared her family's strong democratic and progressive values.[5] In 1937, Vittoria married Henri Dabeuf and acquired French citizenship through their marriage.[1] Dabeuf managed a publishing company, Société Française d'Impressions et d'Éditions, and the couple lived at 22 rue Rémy et Jean de Gourmont.[1]
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