What did we know about politics? With fascism, you could only read what they gave to you, and you didn’t even have the right to make comments.

Anita Malavasi

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Short Biography

Anita Malavasi, Quattro Castella 21 May 1921 - Reggio Emilia 27 November 2011. She began supporting the partisan struggle after the 8th of September 1943. From the spring of 1944 she operated as a dispatch rider, transporting weapons from the city to the mountains. Her battle name was “Laila”. She then joined the 144th Garibaldi Brigade “Antonio Gramsci”, taking part in the armed struggle in the Reggio area of the Appennini mountains from 2 January 1945 until the Liberation. In that period she was also one of the few women appointed Detachment Commanding Officer, while at the end of the war she was finally appointed Sergeant-Major.