Abdisa Aga: The Ethiopian Hero Who Took the Fight to Fascist Italy

 

There are heroes whose names are known around the world, and there are heroes whose stories remain hidden in the pages of history.

Colonel Abdisa Aga was one of those forgotten heroes.

An Ethiopian patriot from Wollega, Abdisa Aga became a soldier when he was still very young. At around fourteen years old, he joined the Ethiopian Army, just as his country was entering one of the darkest periods in its history.

In 1935, Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. The following year, Ethiopian forces fought desperately against a much larger and technologically superior Italian army.

Abdisa Aga was among those who resisted.

A Young Soldier Against an Empire

While still a teenager, Abdisa fought against the Italian invasion. Ethiopian forces were facing aircraft, artillery, tanks and modern weapons, while many Ethiopian patriots were fighting with far fewer resources.

According to Ethiopian accounts, Abdisa showed extraordinary courage during the fighting in Wollega. Eventually, however, he was captured by the Italian forces.

His capture could have been the end of his story.

Instead, it was only the beginning.

The Italians transported Abdisa to Italy, where he was imprisoned. There he encountered prisoners from other countries, including a Yugoslav prisoner often identified in accounts as Captain Julio. The two men became friends and began discussing how they could escape.

The Escape

Abdisa and his fellow prisoners eventually managed to escape.

But Abdisa did not simply run away and disappear.

According to accounts of his life, he and the other escaped prisoners returned to the prison to help free more prisoners. From there, Abdisa became involved with resistance fighters operating against the Fascist forces in Italy.

Think about what that means.

He was an Ethiopian who had been captured while defending his homeland. He had been transported thousands of kilometres away from Ethiopia and imprisoned in a foreign country.

Yet even there, he continued fighting Fascism.

He had gone from being a prisoner to becoming a resistance fighter.

An Ethiopian Fighting in Europe

Abdisa and the partisans carried out attacks against Fascist positions and worked to obtain weapons and supplies. His reputation as a fighter and leader grew among the resistance. Some accounts describe him as eventually commanding a multinational group of partisans.

His story became unusual even within the extraordinary history of World War II.

He was not fighting in Ethiopia anymore.

He was an Ethiopian fighting Fascism on European soil.

And he carried something with him that represented the country he had left behind: the Ethiopian flag.

The Ethiopian Flag in Italy

One of the most famous stories associated with Abdisa Aga concerns the liberation of Rome in 1944.

Several Ethiopian accounts say that Abdisa and his fighters entered Rome with the Ethiopian tricolour flying proudly. The image is powerful: an Ethiopian patriot, thousands of kilometres from home, carrying the green, yellow and red flag into a European city after years of fighting Fascism.

Some details of this part of the story vary between historical accounts, so it is worth treating the more dramatic claims with caution.

But the broader story remains extraordinary: Abdisa Aga became part of the anti-Fascist resistance in Italy after escaping imprisonment there.

A Hero Who Came Home

When the war ended, Abdisa eventually returned to Ethiopia.

He continued his military career and became known as Colonel Abdisa Aga. His story was remembered in Ethiopia, including through educational materials and later books and articles about his life.

Yet outside Ethiopia, very few people know his name.

That is perhaps the most remarkable part of his story.

History often remembers the most famous generals and political leaders. But sometimes the people who risked everything are almost forgotten.

Abdisa Aga was a teenager when he first went to war.

And instead of simply trying to survive, he continued fighting the same Fascist forces that had invaded his homeland.

His battlefield eventually moved from Ethiopia to Europe.

Remembering Abdisa Aga

Abdisa Aga's story deserves to be remembered not simply because he was Ethiopian, but because his life represents something larger: courage in the face of overwhelming power.

He fought for Ethiopia when his country was invaded.

He survived captivity.

He escaped from prison.

He joined resistance fighters.

And he carried the name and flag of Ethiopia into a war that had engulfed much of the world.

There are many famous stories from World War II.

But somewhere among them is the story of an Ethiopian teenager from Wollega who became a resistance fighter in Fascist Italy.

His name was Abdisa Aga.

And his story deserves to be told.

 

What Happened to Our Respect for Our History?

When we look back at the generation of Abdisa Aga, we see something that is becoming harder to find today: a deep sense of sacrifice, responsibility, and love for their country.

Abdisa Aga was still a young man when he began fighting for Ethiopia. He did not have the comfort and opportunities that many of us have today. His generation lived through war, imprisonment, hardship, and uncertainty.

Yet they continued to fight.

They believed that Ethiopia was worth protecting.

Today, many of us live in a very different world. We have access to education, technology, social media, entertainment, and opportunities that previous generations could hardly imagine.

But sometimes, with all these opportunities, we seem to have forgotten something important.

We are forgetting where we came from.

We know the names of international celebrities, athletes, influencers and people on social media. We can spend hours watching videos about people thousands of kilometres away.

But how many of us know the names of the people who fought and sacrificed for our own country?

How many young Ethiopians know the story of Abdisa Aga?

How many know about the people who resisted the Italian occupation?

How many understand what previous generations endured so that Ethiopia could remain Ethiopia?

This is not about saying that today's generation is bad.

Every generation has its own struggles.

But perhaps we have become too comfortable.

Sometimes we criticize our country without understanding its history. Sometimes we speak about Ethiopia as if it is somebody else's responsibility. We complain about what is wrong, but forget that a country is not only a government, a flag, or a piece of land.

A country is its people.

And if we want Ethiopia to become better, we have to ask ourselves what we are doing to make it better.

The generation before us made enormous sacrifices.

Our generation has a different responsibility.

We may not have to go to war. We may not have to carry a rifle into the mountains. We may never experience the hardships that our grandparents experienced.

But we can study.

We can work.

We can build businesses.

We can create.

We can educate ourselves and others.

We can respect our history without being trapped by it.

We can criticize our country when something is wrong, but we should also care enough to help fix it.

And most importantly, we can remember.

Because when a generation forgets its history, it loses more than names and dates.

It loses part of its identity.

Imagine Abdisa Aga looking at Ethiopia today.

What would he think?

Would he ask why we have forgotten the sacrifices of those who came before us?

Would he wonder why young people sometimes seem embarrassed by their own history?

Or would he tell us that the fight has simply changed?

Perhaps the greatest way to honour people like Abdisa Aga is not to repeat their battles, but to continue their spirit.

They fought to defend Ethiopia.

We should work to build Ethiopia.

They sacrificed their youth.

We should use ours wisely.

They protected the country they inherited.

We have a responsibility to improve the country we will eventually leave to the next generation.

Respecting our country does not mean pretending everything is perfect.

It means caring enough to make it better.

And respecting our history does not mean living in the past.

It means learning from the past so that we can build a better future.

The old generation gave us a history.

Now the question is:

What will our generation leave behind?

 “They protected the country they inherited. We have a responsibility to improve the country we will eventually leave to the next generation.”

Our heroes gave everything to protect Ethiopia. Today, our responsibility is different: to remember them, learn from them, and build a better future.

Let us not forget where we came from.

One day, we too will become history. What will we leave behind?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this story.

I hope it reminds us to remember our heroes, respect our history, and never forget the sacrifices made for Ethiopia.    

  I’ll be back next week to share a part of my own history and my personal story with you.

kidist …