---
title: '"Credere Obbedire Combattere": a school group photograph, Mirandola, 1938'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/credere-obbedire-combattere-mirandola-1938/
description: Students and teachers of the Royal Liceo-Ginnasio in Mirandola pose under portraits of the King and of Mussolini and a banner reading CREDERE OBBEDIRE…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[!["Credere Obbedire Combattere": a school group photograph, Mirandola, 1938](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/credere-obbedire-combattere-mirandola-1938.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/credere-obbedire-combattere-mirandola-1938.jpg)

# "Credere Obbedire Combattere": a school group photograph, Mirandola, 1938

Students and teachers of the Royal Liceo-Ginnasio in Mirandola pose under portraits of the King and of Mussolini and a banner reading CREDERE OBBEDIRE COMBATTERE (Believe, Obey, Fight), the motto of the Fascist youth organisation. The slogan sits above the class as a statement of what the school is for: belief and obedience are presented as virtues in themselves.

- **Date:** 1938
- **Period:** [Interwar](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=interwar)
- **Made by:** Regio Liceo-Ginnasio, Mirandola, and the Gioventu Italiana del Littorio (GIL)
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [Fascist Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=fascist-italy)
- **Medium:** [Photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=photograph)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Fascist Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=fascist-italy)
- **Leader:** [Benito Mussolini](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=benito-mussolini)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics), [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military)
- **Techniques:** [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Regio_Liceo-Ginnasio_-_Mirandola_(1938).jpg), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (PD-Italy simple photograph; PD-1996 in the U.S.) Photographer unknown, Mirandola, 1938. Via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

Original (Italian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
CREDERE
OBBEDIRE
COMBATTERE

R. LICEO - GINNASIO - MIRANDOLA
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
BELIEVE
OBEY
FIGHT

Royal Liceo-Ginnasio - Mirandola
```

'R.' abbreviates 'Regio' (Royal), the standard prefix for state schools of the period. The two framed pictures flanking the banner (apparently a mounted rider and a sporting scene) and the small portraits above the banner carry no legible text at this resolution.

[← 和平實現是我們第一步的勝利 (The Realisation of Peace Is Our First Step to Victory), Xi'an poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xian-peace-first-step-victory-poster-1936/) [Eesti rahwas, hoia kokku! (Estonian people, hold together!): Rahvarinne election leaflet →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eesti-rahvas-hoia-kokku-rahvarinne-1938/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Salzburg 20-Kronen "Anschluss" voucher (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/salzburg-anschluss-voucher-20-kronen-1921/) (1921 · Identity fusion)
- [The Bombay Chronicle reports a foreign-cloth bonfire (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921/) (Jul 30, 1921 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [Ein Volk, ein Führer, ein Ja (One People, One Leader, One Yes)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ein-volk-ein-fuehrer-ein-ja-1933/) (Nov 1933 · Identity fusion)
- [Palazzo Braschi dressed for the 1934 plebiscite: rows of "SI" around the Duce](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/palazzo-braschi-si-1934/) (Mar 1934 · Identity fusion, Bandwagon)
- [Oro alla Patria: handing in gold wedding rings in Milan, 1935](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/oro-alla-patria-milan-1935/) (Dec 1935 · Identity fusion, Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [Eesti rahwas, hoia kokku! (Estonian people, hold together!): Rahvarinne election leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eesti-rahvas-hoia-kokku-rahvarinne-1938/) (1938 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/) (Aug 1, 1940 · Semantic hijacking, Identity fusion)
- [Românii basarabeni, Bucovinenii și minoritarii pașnici (leaflet for Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Romanian and Russian sides)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/romanian-german-leaflet-bessarabia-1941/) (1941 · Fear appeal, Identity fusion)