Giuseppe Pagano: From Fascist Architect to Mauthausen Victim

Giuseppe Pagano (born Giuseppe Pogatschnig in 1896 in Parenzo, Istria) was a complex figure: a decorated WWI volunteer, early fascist, rationalist architect, and later a regime critic who died in Mauthausen concentration camp on April 22, 1945, 13 days before liberation. After studying at Turin's Regia Scuola di Ingegneria, he became director of Casabella magazine in 1933, advocating for rationalist architecture. He joined the MIAR (Movimento Italiano per l'Architettura Razionale) and organized the second Esposizione Italiana di Architettura Razionale in 1931 with Adalberto Libera, Gaetano Minnucci, Gino Pollini, and Pier Maria Bardi. His key works include the Gualino office building in Turin (1928-1930, with Gino Levi-Montalcini) and the Università Bocconi building in Milan (1937-1941). Despite his fascist loyalty, he maintained friendships with anti-fascists like Lionello Venturi and Edoardo Persico. He resigned from the fascist party in 1942, joined the anti-fascist movement in Cuneo in June 1943, was arrested in November 1943, escaped, was recaptured, and deported to Mauthausen and Melk. After the war, Casabella dedicated a triple issue (195-198) to him in 1946, edited by Franco Albini and Giancarlo Palanti.