The Importance of Collective Memory

When we ponder the history of certain famous buildings, we often marvel at how they have remained standing throughout a number of centuries. Compared to such architectural attractions, the life of the average human being is quite short.

Indeed, during the relatively few years of our earthly existence, there are various milestones which are often expected – attending a specific school, earning a living as an employee or as a self-employed person, getting married, having one or more children, and so on. Many of us will interact with and influence – to a certain degree – the behaviour of some other people.

     

Regardless of all our achievements, a day will come when we will pass away. Following this unavoidable event, we may have a memorial card printed and distributed to relatives, friends, and acquaintances. A photo capturing a significant moment of our life story may be displayed in someone’s home or stored in an album. Nowadays, it is very likely that countless photos will remain saved on a mobile phone or on a computer.

     

The ordinary mortal may continue to be mentioned here and there by some other people for a few weeks or months following the funeral. Yet, as the living go on with the struggles of their daily lives and as the individuals known to a person that has passed away also die, most people will hardly ever be talked about any longer or even remembered. Put differently, unless a person manages to do something quite extraordinary during their lifetime, they will be virtually forgotten following the passage of a given amount of time after their death. To make matters worse, key details about a person’s life may no longer be available when various items pertaining to someone are disposed of or when no effort is made to preserve them.

     

Historians as well as genealogists, amongst others, could easily understand the frustration of trying to answer numerous questions on the basis of relatively little information. Although some people may have been particularly close to individuals that eventually gained national fame for one reason or another, this does not mean that there would be a considerable amount of information still available about their lives several years after their death. In the case of those people who never shone in the limelight like more prominent persons, unearthing biographical details about them could turn out to be a fairly painstaking process.

     

As an example, I would like to mention Mr Albert William Mizzi. The latter was the son of Dr Angelo and Ms Eleonora Mizzi (nee’ Farrugia). He was born in Tripoli (Libya) in 1890. One of his brothers was Mr Alfred Mizzi; the man whose name lives on as a result of the many works carried out by The Alfred Mizzi Foundation.

Albert Mizzi became a part of my family history. More specifically, he got married to Carmela (also known as Carmelina), who was the daughter of Antonio Cuschieri. My great-grandfather, Pio, was Antonio’s brother. Albert, a legal procurator, must have known Pio to some degree since he signed the latter’s passport application form as a character witness in 1924. He did the same thing for Antonio, his father-in-law, in 1931.

     

Mizzi was also fairly active within the Nationalist Party for a number of years. Indeed, there is a photo bearing the caption “Mizzian invaders of Gozo to break up the 1921 Meeting” whereby Albert Mizzi is standing between Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici (also known as Il-Gross) and Enrico (also known as Nerik) Mizzi. Giovanni Cuschieri, son of Antonio and Albert’s brother-in-law, also appears in the said photo. Furthermore, an article published by The Times of Malta on the 7^th April 1932 stated that “…all the Nationalist leaders are well known. We know Messrs. Mizzi, Mifsud Bonnici, Adami, Masu Fenech and Albert Mizzi and all the rest of them.”

     

Mizzi’s name also surfaced in association with a couple of newspapers that were in print for some years prior to the end of the 1930s. One of these papers was called Mercurius; the editor was Albert’s brother, Alexander, and Albert was listed as the printer. The other newspaper was entitled Mid-day Views. Even in this case, Alexander was the editor and Albert was the printer. The registered address of both newspapers was Mercurius Press, 17, Strada Zaccharia (Zachary Street), Valletta.

     

At some point in time, Mizzi switched his allegiance to the Malta Labour Party. Shortly after Mizzi passed away in 1951, Dom Mintoff penned an article in The Knight. He wrote that “Our friend, Mr Albert Mizzi L.P., was an intelligent and fearless man – a born leader in a country where leadership is denied.”

     

In view of all the material featured in this article, it is quite disappointing to note the myriad difficulties encountered in trying to obtain more detailed information about various aspects of Mizzi’s life. For instance, how did Mizzi feel whilst working with Enrico Mizzi? Or what exactly caused Mizzi to move from the Nationalist to the Malta Labour Party? If doing so is still not always easy in our times, let alone making such a move many decades ago! Two history professors were contacted during my research process, but neither one of them was able to provide any assistance.

     

This is the part where the importance of collective memory deserves to be mentioned. The latter involves the participation of each and every person. More specifically, it is up to us to document, to collect, and to preserve all those items that would allow us to weave the tapestry that features as many aspects of one’s life as possible. By doing so, we would be contributing to the preservation of the information about a human being long after they have died.

     

As is often said, every life represents a unique story. Regardless of the fame or rank achieved by a person during their earthly existence, each story is valuable. And as all those stories are preserved, we ensure that no person is ever forgotten. Furthermore, as the memories associated with the departed are kept alive, it becomes easier to understand our historical development as individuals and as a species.