One understands the passion of certain collectors. A Roman auction house is offering a document from one of the darkest epochs of Italian post-war history for auction on its website until January 18: “Lot 43”, classified in the “Autographs and Memorabilia” category, is the leaflet that the left-wing extremists use Terrorist organization Brigate Rosse confessed in March 1978 for the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, then president of the Democrazia Cristiana party and former prime minister of the country. Two pages, 80 lines full of propaganda that still resonates in the ears of Italians like a dramatic echo from the leaden years. The auction house writes that the document is “in very good condition” with only “fine tears on the edges and creases in the middle”.
Starting price was 600 euros. After a few days, the highest bid is 12,000, and there is great indignation in the country. What is such a document looking for in an auction? Doesn’t it belong in an archive, a museum, a memorial? And is it allowed to: make money with a terrorist letter of confession?
First back to 1978. Moro was a central figure in Italian politics, he negotiated a historical compromise with the communists: the Christian Democrats and the Partito Comunista Italiano, long-time bitter antagonists, were to rule together. This never-implemented plan did not please everyone. On March 16, 1978, shortly after morning mass, a squad of red brigadists attacked Moro’s car convoy in Rome. They killed five bodyguards and kidnapped Moro. 48 hours later, a journalist found the leaflet with the five-pointed logo of the organization in an underpass in the center of the city, the “Comunicato Nr. 1”, together with a Polaroid photo of the politician. In the following weeks, during the still not fully illuminated phase of the negotiations, eight more communiqués were to follow.
On April 20, 1978, the kidnappers sent a photo to prove that Moro was alive. On May 9th, he was found dead in the trunk of a car.
(Photo: picture-alliance / dpa)
On May 9, 1978, Moro was found dead in the trunk of a car on Via Caetani. He was 61 years old.
“Have we already forgotten the horror?”
Italy’s fears about Moro, which lasted 55 days, began with the leaflet. It is not known who owns the cloudy period document, and that is also not so important. The auction house advertises it as “Original” but the name is a bit confusing. The Brigate Rosse used an IBM electric typewriter with a ball head for their leaflets and chose the Light Italic font. There were apparently nine copies of the first communiqué, cheaply duplicated with an old rotary duplicator that worked with stencils made of wax paper and could only print very small editions at a time. The text, however, was 81 lines long, not 80, as in the copy now offered. In the following days, the Red Brigades distributed dozens more printouts across town, some of which it is not so clear whether they came from the same machine. 41 of them are in the files of the “Moro Uno” trial.
The first page of the two-page letter of responsibility that is now up for auction.
(Photo: Bertolami Fine Art)
So the auction house is not lying when it defines the document as the original, only: it is one of many.
“These pages are oozing with blood,” says journalist Mario Calabresi. The Red Brigades had justified the massacre during the kidnapping for themselves, it was not simply a historical memorabilia. Mario Calabresi is the son of Commissioner Luigi Calabresi, who was killed by the terrorists in 1972. He is currently considering buying the letter and then bequeathing it to the Casa della Memoria, a museum of remembrance in Brescia. “Have we already forgotten the horror?”
Politicians from all camps view the auction as similarly critical; the chorus is unanimous for once. There morbid emotions would be served as with souvenirs of Benito Mussolini, the fascist leader, who also always attracted hordes of collectors. Since there have been calls to stop the auction of “Comunicato No. 1”, the bids for it have doubled.