Jurisprudence
and History: Civil Rights in Nazi Germany
Interview
with Paolo Arigotti, Writer
by
Maria Teresa De Donato
Today I am thrilled to introduce you to a friend and
colleague-author, Paolo Arigotti, of whom I had the pleasure and honor of
reading and reviewing his beautiful novel Sorelle molto speciali (Very Special Sisters). In addition to his
secular work, academic studies and publications, Paolo remains pretty
active in the writing community through his numerous video interviews on his
Youtube Channel, Il salotto letterario di Paolo Arigotti (Paolo Arigotti's literary salon). There are
so many topics that we could consider with him. Today, however, we shall focus
on his novels and the 'Civil Rights issue.
MTDD: Hi Paolo, and welcome to my Blog and Virtual Cultural Salon. It is a great
honor to have you as my guest.
PA:
Hi Maria Teresa, my honor and pleasure too, and thank you for the invitation 😊
MTDD: Paolo, I started with a short
introduction, but I would be pleased if you could personally introduce yourself
to our readers, tell us a little about yourself and share with our audience all
the information you might consider appropriate.
PA:
I live and work in Cagliari, and I
cultivate many passions, among which indeed travel, history
(I just graduated
on the 21st of July), books and writing.
MTDD: Why did you opt for studies in Law and,
subsequently, for those in History, and what attracted you most to them both?
PA:
The studies in Law, completed in 1998, were a rational choice: knowing the laws opens up many paths and allows you to have a greater awareness
of your rights, but without denying any of my previous decisions, contemporary
history remains my great passion.
MTDD: How and when did your passion for writing start, and how did you end up working and eventually publishing your two novels?
PA:
I published the third one last March, but we'll discuss that next time. I
always had a passion for writing and the desire to publish one of my books, and in 2015 it became a reality with Un triangolo rosa (A Pink Triangle),
a passion confirmed in 2018 with the release of Sorelle molto speciali
(Very Special Sisters), to which you dedicated a review. 😊
MTDD: In
your novels, where your legal and historical skills and knowledge are evident,
what I would call 'the common denominator' emerges, that is, your passion for
civil rights. In Sorelle molto speciali, the racial laws promulgated by
Nazi Germany in the Thirties offer you the opportunity to dwell on the
'disability' issue and, in fact, the emerging theme through the 'diversity' of
Sara, born with Down Syndrome, is the merciless, cynical and aberrant view that
spread during the Third Reich through which 'someone' arrogated to themselves the
right to establish who was 'normal,' 'abnormal' and who was worth living or not.
Please tell us about those laws and how
they inspired you to write this novel of yours.
PA: Unfortunately, it was not only Nazi
Germany that passed legislation on eugenics (a discipline that would contribute
to the "improvement of the race"); other nations, perhaps
unexpectedly, also approved laws of this kind, although the critical difference
is that in the Third Reich they decided to eliminate the “different,” with
cynically bureaucratic and criminal procedures.
MTDD: Jews, individuals with physical and/or mental disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma, and others were among the millions who lost their lives during the Third Reich because of those laws. In those camps, each category of individuals had a symbol of a particular color sewn on the bustline of the uniform. In the case of homosexuals, this symbol was represented by A pink triangle (Un triangolo rosa) which is, in fact, the title of your first novel.
What can you tell us about this novel and its characters?
PA: Since that was my first book, I am and remain profoundly attached to that publication (which, in the upcoming months, will get published again by a different publisher). It is a love story with a capital L (said by my first publisher), which goes through many critical historical facts using the stories of the protagonists: three young gay boys of the time (the 1930s).
MTDD: At the legislative level, but also and above all in terms of culture, of perception by the general public of this reality, do you find that in the case of 'diversity,' in any form, considerable progress has been made or that it is still seen as a sort of taboo, of a hot topic to talk about and to deal with? And if so, why?
PA: Diversity goes hand in hand with prejudice towards what is unknown; spreading culture and knowledge is the best antidote to such aberrations.
MTDD: My personal experience, not direct, but rather as an observer and, therefore, as an eyewitness to the experiences of others, especially about homosexuality, made me consider two fundamental aspects. The first is the need to frankly admit that we, heterosexuals, cannot really
understand homosexuality; that is, we know it at the cerebral, linguistic level, but we cannot go any. Further, we do not grasp its full scope and profound genetic, mental, and psychological implications. A second aspect concerns the difficulty many still have in dealing with it, starting with family members and parents. What I have noticed over the years is that the happiest, or at least most serene situations on both sides – homosexual and family – are those in which there is much love and the consequent possibility of revealing oneself, of communicating one's sexual orientation openly, or, to use the English expressions to feel free of 'outing' or 'coming out.
What are your thoughts on this?
PA:
I'm not a parent, but I humanly understand a father's or mother's fears and concerns. It is undoubtedly not a manageable condition to live in, especially in certain
realities, but what I do not accept is to subordinate one's vision to the
famous saying, “what will people say!”.
MTDD: Are
there other aspects of your novels we have yet to consider that you
would like to tell us about?
PA:
I like to say that my characters always go against the grain; it takes
these people to give a healthy twist to events and allow society to grow and
change.
MTDD: Do
you have any projects that are 'boiling in the pot' you wish to anticipate
something about?
PA:
I will devote myself to historical research, even as an outsider, and I will
write and travel (I hope as soon as possible) for a long time.
MTDD:
Thank you, Paolo, for participating in this exciting interview. I hope to
have you again as my guest because there are many topics that we
can discuss together.
As for those who wish to contact you or buy
your publications, how can they do so?
PA:
You can find me on various social networks through my name and surname:
Facebook (including my dedicated page), Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, and Youtube, and I am waiting for many authors and authors in my virtual literary salon.
Thanks, Maria Teresa 😊
