"an immense void in the historical sources of European civilization"
Destruction of documents of the Grande Archivio di Stato of Naples.
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The most valuable historical documents of the State Archives of Naples were moved to the Montesano villa near San Paolo Belsito to save them from aerial attack by the Germans under the supervision of Riccardo Filangieri, Superintendent of the archives. These included 30,000 volumes and about 50,000 parchments, for the most part contained in 866 cases.
On September 30, 1943 documents belonging to the Grande Archivio di Stato of Naples including the 378 Registers of the Anjou Chancery (1265-1435), one of the most valuable historical sources of the Middle Ages, were burned by German soldiers. The original treaties of Naples were destroyed.
Riccardo Filangieri wrote of the destruction:
The extent of the disaster is enormous. In that depository I had collected all the most precious series of documents coming from the various archives of the south of Italy. And their destruction has created an immense void in the historical sources of European civilization, a void which nothing will ever be able to fill.
References.
Filangieri, Riccardo. 1944. “Report of the Destruction by the Germans, September 30, 1943, of the Depository of Priceless Historical Records of the Naples State Archives.” American Archivist 7 (October): 252–55.
Jamison, E. (1949). Documents from the Angevin Registers of Naples: Charles I. Papers of the British School at Rome,17, 87-173. doi:10.1017/S0068246200006103
The restriction of speech is equal to the destruction of history, because they do the same thing. I saw the monument vandalizing of last summer in that context, and wept. I'm going to subscribe now.