Each Commissioner carried out the tasks pertaining to him, with the help of the assigned Collaborators. However, matters of major importance were always dealt with in the Council, during frequent evening and daytime meetings. While the activity of the Council was mainly aimed at coping with the difficulties of the moment, every act and measure was constantly inspired by a concern to enforce the principles of democracy, civil justice and social progress. However, some disagreements arose initially: immediately after the establishment of the Council, also declaring null and void the act of establishment by Major Dionigi Superti. Once the differences with the CLNAI were resolved, the Council was also recognized by the National Government in Rome, with which it sought direct liaison several times. In fact, the then President
Ivanoe Bonomi wrote two telegrams to the G.P.G., praising its work and providing maximum support: Another concern of the Council was to maintain the most relaxed relations possible with the population, encouraging every demonstration and establishing immediate citizen control over the political and administrative activities of the established body. To this end, the reconstitution and affirmation of the Zone C.L.N. was stimulated; close links were maintained with trade unions, parties and mass organizations; the local press was promoted; rallies and public demonstrations were held. which would be followed by many others. Guglielmo Canevascini, Ticino's state councilor, after noting the situation in the valley wrote to the
Ticino population, "I have visited the liberated Ossola. The food situation is tragic. The civilian population of the region - 60,000 people, excluding the military - is reduced to hunger [...] Everything is lacking; one encounters everywhere, amidst a noble and dignified pride that is in the behavior of the people, just squalor and misery." National councilors Francesco Borella, Karl Dellberg,
Locarno Mayor G.B. Rusca and influential journalists also visited
Domodossola.
Political-administrative organization of the territory Initially, while waiting for the Zone and local C.L.N. to be operational, the Council provided for the appointment of an Extraordinary Commissioner for each municipality, replacing the
Podestà and prefectural commissioners, so that political and administrative continuity would be guaranteed. Subsequently, with the establishment of the C.L.N., Municipal Councils consisting of five members (Mayor and four Councillors) were appointed and established in each municipality, assisted by Popular Municipal Councils. The Municipal Council of
Domodossola was composed, through inter-party negotiations, of five members, with Mayor Carlo Lightowler, a Socialist. Importantly, the G.P.G left maximum autonomy to the Local Authorities, limiting guardianship ratification to very few acts. was appointed by CLNAI. Various military and political issues, however, made it difficult to accept this appointment, so the Council was forced several times to mediate. After long and complex discussions, it was possible to convince everyone at least on the need for a Single Military Office, coordinator of operations and all initiatives of the Ossola formations, with the authority to convene a general military council. The Unified Commander Federici was at that point able to coordinate offensive and defensive plans, maintaining contact with each formation. A series of rules were drafted, by the G.P.G. and the commands of the formations, specifying, in the event of violation of these rules, the complaint "to the Investigating Judge for interim measures and to the C.L.N.A.I. for the indictment before the War Tribunal or the adjournment of the trial before the Judicial Authority of the Italian Government." While it was never able to have total control of the territory as far as this issue was concerned, especially in the more peripheral areas, the G.P.G. always tried to keep as its main objective the reparations due to each community. The resulting corps, although reinforced by a few volunteer elements, was nevertheless barely sufficient for the maintenance of public order in the city and political security. Here, too, the mediation work of the Council was instrumental in soothing ill-feeling, and it saw to it that the areas of responsibility of its police organs were distinguished from those of the patriotic police. Attempts were also made to unify the police services, but this plan did not come to fruition due to the too short period in which the Ossola Republic existed.
Justice administration The provisional nature of the G.P.G., coupled with the uncertainty over what legislation to apply and the absence of directives from the government in Rome, imposed caution in adopting measures pertaining to justice. Nevertheless, the principles that inspired the Council were heavily marked by a strongly reforming idea of fairness, legality and freedom of the individual, values that were later fully taken up by the
Italian Constitution. For the conduct of ordinary trials, the Praetor was dismissed for
collaborationism and in his place Dr. Giuseppe Darioli was appointed Deputy Praetor. It was also decreed that from that moment all sentences would be handed down "In the name of the Nation." For political investigations, instead, an Extraordinary Judge was established, lawyer
Ezio Vigorelli, future
Minister of Labor and Social Policies and member of the
Constituent Assembly. His powers were limited to orders for indictment, internment and release of defendants; in the latter case, however, the opinion of the Police Commissioner was required. Given the large number of political prisoners locked up at the city jail (which had a maximum capacity of 40 people), a concentration camp was set up at
Druogno in the
Vigezzo Valley. A Commission for the Purge was also established, appointed by the area C.L.N., consisting of four party representatives and two citizens known for honesty and antifascist spirit, with the task of proposing measures that would then be ratified by the Council. This can be attributed to the person of
Ezio Vigorelli, who always refused vindictive justice, despite the fact that his two sons were shot by the Nazi-Fascists in the June 1944 roundups. In essence, in applying the measures inherent in justice, there was always extreme fairness, civility, impartiality and inflexibility. Alessandro Levi, a famous jurist and
anti-fascist, wrote about this: == Flag ==