Who’s that girl? She’s a partisan
By: Francesca Casonato
Tags: Eva Colombo, Under The News, Italy, 25 Aprile 1945, Partigiani

It’s one of the most iconic pictures of the Italian liberation day, the 25th of April 1945, and the protagonist is a not-so-well-known woman.

On the 25th of April Italy celebrates the liberation from fascism, operated by the Americans and the resistance groups of partisans. Little did I knew that one of the most iconic pictures of this rebellion has as a protagonist one of the few females partigiane (partisans).

The picture was taken when Milan was liberated on the 6th of May

and you can see three people marching down one of the main streets in the city. One of them is a woman and she’s holding an Italian flag. She’s smiling. They’ve won not only the war, but also their own freedom from the Duce, the dictator.

But who is she and why is she holding the flag?

Her name was Eva Colombo, born in Parabiagio on the 24th July 1916. She was one of the bravest female partisans in Italy. When her husband, Jonio Salerno, was called in the army in 1943, she went to live with her mother-in-law in Milan. Her house was the headquarters of the resistance, and she quickly got involved in the partisan movement. Her father, whom she described as an anti-feminist, was part of the resistance as well, and tried to tell her how dangerous it could be, but Eva wanted to be a “staffettina”, one of the girls delivering messages for the partisans.

“If you want to do it you have to keep in mind that if they get you, you must not talk. You could be shot or tortured. But you must not talk”. He warned me about all the possible dangers. “If your mind is set, do it. But be aware of the risks”. I accepted all the risks and I did it. He was proud of me. I think in that moment, in his eyes, I kind of redeemed myself from being born a woman.

And what a “redemption” she had. Her code name was Susi and she was delivering messages and information from Milan to the partisans group in Valtellina. She got arrested in 1944, but she was soon released and she joined the Oltrepo group. Eva quickly raised as a valuable member of the Italian resistance and she became the Head of the Police department in the short Partisan Republic of Ossola that lasted from the 10th of September to the 23rd of October 1944.

She was one of the few women who liberated Pavia on the 25th of April 1945.

In the picture shared from the Jonio Salerno archives, you can see two women sitting in the middle of a group of men. They are Eva Colombo and her friend Dina Croce, both partisan women who fought against fascists and nazis along with their male colleagues, to free one by one the Italian cities in Lombardia. On the 26th of April 1945 they arrived in Milan.

That’s when her husband Jonio, who was passing through Bologna with the Allies, heard her voice on the radio. Eva, along with other partisans, had occupied the EIAR studios in Milan and she sang “Fischia il vento”, the song of freedom and resistance.

Finally, she was chosen to represent the Oltrepo group as a flag holder at the liberation parade on the 6th of May. That’s when the famous picture was taken.

After the end of the war, she kept fighting for human rights.

She was an active member of the Italian Communist Party and she lead the laborers strikes in Novara. She finally retired in 1955 in Brianza with her husband, where she died peacefully in 2004. Today, her fight is still alive and well, printed black and white in that picture from 1945. Although not many people know her story, what she stood for lives on in Italy, thanks to all the people who keep celebrating the 25th of April.