From autarchy to victory. An analysis of children's texts for the prize competition announced by the popular Bank of Milan – savings propaganda office (1939-1941)

Abstract

This essay is part of the recent historiographic trend that has stimulated the study and valorisation of the historical educational heritage present in Italian educational institutions. The sources considered are the texts composed at school by boys and girls on the Competition with Prizes organised by the Banca Popolare di Milano – Savings Propaganda Office (1939-1941): they are currently kept in the Historical Archive of the Casa del Sole in Milan. Some aspects of these essays will be analysed to show the work of capillary ideological control over teaching practices and over the subject content implemented by the regime to indoctrinate the new generations to the values that constituted the cornerstones of the fascist ideology.