Anita Rho (1906–1980)

Anita Allason Rho was born in Venice, Italy. From her mother and her maternal aunt, Barbara Allason, she learned German, which she improved living in Budapest and Bratislava, where her military officer father was posted from 1919 to 1922. After moving to Turin with her family in 1931 she began working with the publisher Carlo Frassinelli, translating works of German literature. She shared a home with Barbara Allason that became a meeting place for a circle of intellectuals anti-fascists. She actively participated in the resistance movement, distributing anti-fascist propaganda materials, and was arrested and imprisoned by the Mussolini government in 1934. After World War II, she continued to publish translations, focusing mainly on the works of Musil, Ibsen, and Kafka.