last days of mussolini

The partisans seized Mussolini and Petacci. [62], Some, including most persistently the fascist journalist Giorgio Pisanò, have claimed that Mussolini and Petacci were shot earlier in the day near the De Maria farmhouse and that the execution at Giulino de Mezzegra was staged with corpses. [30] The vehicle pulled up at the entrance of the Villa Belmonte on a narrow road known as via XXIV maggio and Mussolini and Petacci were told to get out and stand by the villa's wall. The Last 4 Days. Mussolini and Petacci spent the rest of the night and most of the following day there.[16]. Now, as the sun rose on the “Square of the Fifteen Martyrs,” residents of Milan had the chance to do the same thing, only this time for real. Furthermore, he had had a reputation for being reliable and trustworthy; he was also known to have disliked Audisio personally. At least twelve different individuals have, at various times, been claimed to be the killer. 1975 Italian historical drama film directed by Carlo Lizzani and starring Rod Steiger, Franco Nero and Lisa Gastoni. By April 25, 1945, however, the Third Reich was quickly losing its grip on northern Italy. "John" took me outside and told me his orders were to eliminate them both, because Petacci knew many things. [38] Eventually, in August, the body (with a leg missing) was tracked down to the Certosa di Pavia, a monastery not far from Milan. The generally accepted version of events[note 1] is that Mussolini was shot by Walter Audisio, a communist partisan who used the nom de guerre of "Colonel Valerio". [61][68] Commenting on the RAI television documentary in 2004, Christopher Woods, researcher for the official history of the SOE, dismissed these claims saying that "it's just love of conspiracy-making". The tribunal condemned Mussolini and Petacci to death. In the pre-dawn hours of April 29 the corpses of Mussolini, Petacci and 14 fellow fascists were placed in a truck and dumped like garbage in Milan’s Piazzale Loreto, a deeply symbolic public square for the anti-fascist forces. Aside from Mussolini and Petacci, sixteen of the most prominent of them would be summarily shot in Dongo the following day and a further ten would be killed over two successive nights. Rod Steiger (Actor), Henry Fonda (Actor), Carlo Lizzani (Director) & 0 more. [55], Outside of Italy, Audisio's version of how Mussolini was executed has largely been accepted and is uncontroversial. One version of the subsequent report indicated that he had been shot with nine bullets, while another version specified seven bullets. Mussolini donned a German Luftwaffe helmet and overcoat, but the disguise did little to save him when partisans stopped the convoy at the lakeside town of Dongo on April 27. However, the reason given by those involved in hanging Mussolini and the others in this way was to protect the bodies from the mob. [2] Following the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, Mussolini was deposed and put under arrest; Italy then signed an armistice with the Allies in Cassabile. Last Days of Mussolini (Mussolini Ultimo Atto) 1974 - http://www.comingsoon.it/Film/Scheda/?key=15440&film=Mussolini-ultimo-atto - http://www.ivid.it/fotogal... Last Days of Mussolini (Mussolini Ultimo Atto) 1974 - http://www.comingsoon. At the time, Mussolini is said to have remarked "for the blood of Piazzale Loreto, we shall pay dearly". [9] With the CLNAI's assumption of control in Milan and the German army in northern Italy about to surrender, Mussolini fled the city on 25 April and attempted to escape north to Switzerland.[9][10]. 1959 Italian drama film directed by Carlo Lizzani. [18], He also claimed that he had given the order as deputy prime minister of the government in Rome and as leader of the Communist Party. All of those propaganda posters and photos had now truly come back to haunt him. In front of the tomb is a register for visitors paying their respects to sign. The identity of the triggerman remains a point of contention, but it was likely communist partisan commander Walter Audisio. A scene from the historical movie Last Days of Mussolini, with actors and walks-on wearing stage costumes; the actor Franco Nero performs the partisan Walter Audisio, also known as Colonel Valerio,... Erstklassige Nachrichtenbilder in hoher Auflösung bei Getty Images The partisans recognised one Italian fascist leader in the convoy, but not Mussolini at this stage, and made the Germans hand over all the Italians in exchange for allowing the Germans to proceed. Hardcover. According to Lonati, he and "John" went to the De Maria farmhouse in the morning of 28 April and killed Mussolini and Petacci at about 11:00 a.m.[62][67] In 2004, the Italian state television channel, RAI, broadcast a documentary, co-produced by Tompkins, in which the theory was put forward. In April 1945, with the Allies breaking through the last German defences in northern Italy and a general uprising of the partisans taking hold in the cities, Mussolini's situation became untenable. I said I could not shoot Petacci, so John said he would shoot her himself, while making it quite clear that Mussolini however, had to be killed by an Italian. Mussolini’s last days and stories of death at the hands of enemies 75 years ago. The bodies were beaten, shot at, and hit with hammers. The event usually attracts supporters in the thousands and includes speeches, songs and people giving the fascist salute. On arriving in the city in the early hours of 29 April, they were dumped on the ground in the Piazzale Loreto, a suburban square near the main railway station. Audisio said he read out a sentence of death, whereas Lampredi omitted this. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honour for this man. [62], The theory has been criticised for lacking any serious evidence, particularly on the existence of the correspondence with Churchill. By this point, Mussolini’s badly beaten body was barely recognizable, but a U.S. Army photographer still staged the bodies of the former dictator and his mistress in each other’s arms in a macabre pose. [12], The partisans arrested Mussolini and took him to Dongo, where he spent part of the night in the local barracks. Ernst Cahn- the Koco affair. After Lampredi's account was published, most, but not all, commentators were convinced of its veracity. The Italian dictator’s final days and his body’s strange journey in the years after. [56], In 1996, a previously unpublished private account written in 1972 by Aldo Lampredi for the Communist Party's archives, appeared in L'Unità. [57], In his 1993 book Dongo: half a century of lies, the partisan leader Urbano Lazzaro repeated a claim he had made earlier that Luigi Longo and not Audisio, was "Colonnello Valerio". [34] Urbano Lazzaro later denied that such a tribunal had been convened and said: I was convinced Mussolini deserved death ... but there should have been a trial according to law. [42][43] Allied forces began arriving in the city during the course of the morning and an American eyewitness described the crowd as "sinister, depraved, out of control". Wikipedia. They hurled invectives and vegetables at the dictator’s corpse before kicking, beating and spitting upon it. [46], On 30 April, an autopsy was carried out on Mussolini at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Milan. Fearing that Mussolini and Petacci might be rescued by fascist supporters, the partisans drove them, in the middle of the night, to a nearby farm of a peasant family named De Maria; they believed this would be a safe place to hold them. [1] However, since the end of the war, the circumstances of Mussolini's death, and the identity of his killer, have been subjects of continuing confusion, dispute and controversy in Italy. Sometimes there was Honor 3 offers from £19.60. In 1957, however, newly elected prime minister Adone Zoli needed the support of a far-right party and in return for its votes, he delivered the bones of Mussolini to his widow. [1] However, within Italy, the subject has been a matter of extensive debate and dispute since the late 1940s to the present and a variety of theories of how Mussolini died has proliferated. The corpses were pelted with vegetables, spat at, urinated on, shot at and kicked; Mussolini's face was disfigured by beatings. The film depicts the downfall of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Audisio replied that she had been Mussolini's adviser, had inspired his policies and was "just as responsible as he is". Now, the familiarity of his distinctive shaved head and granite jaw, even in disguise, did him in. Last Days of Mussolini (Italian: Mussolini: Ultimo atto) is a 1974 Italian historical drama film co-written and directed by Carlo Lizzani and starring Rod Steiger, Franco Nero and Lisa Gastoni. Capture and Execution of Mussolini Mussolini spent his last 7 days in power in Milan, which was the site of his rise to power. He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly. In a desperate attempt to avoid capture, he tries to flee the country with his lover Claretta Petacci, but Italian partisans are on their tail. She also said that she herself had heard the shots and that she "looked at the clock, it was almost 11". Various authors have named a dozen or so people as the 'real' killer of Mussolini, but this book offers convincing evidence that Walter Audisio, … On Easter Sunday 1946, Mussolini's body was located and dug up by a young fascist, Domenico Leccisi, and two friends. How one of the most vile dictators of the twentieth century met his end. [3] Later that year, he was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces and Hitler installed him as leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state set up in northern Italy and based at the town of Salò near Lake Garda. In September 1943, Nazi paratroopers staged a daring commando raid that rescued Mussolini from the Apennine Mountain ski resort where he was being detained. [72], Newspaper articles, journals and websites, In fact, there has never been a determination by any governmental or judicial authority of a particular version of events. The film opens in 1922 as Mussolini gathers his power through the … [53], The anniversary of Mussolini's death on 28 April has become one of three dates neo-fascist supporters mark with major rallies. [47] Samples of Mussolini's brain were taken and sent to America for analysis. Two Franciscan friars were charged with assisting Leccisi to hide the body. Mussolini’s body, meanwhile, was buried in an unmarked grave in a Milan cemetery. Find great deals on eBay for last days mussolini. [5], Slowly fighting their way up the Italian peninsula, the Allies took Rome and then Florence in the summer of 1944 and later that year they began advancing into northern Italy. This movie offers a rare examination of the possible thought process that went through Mussolini's head as he headed for his inevitable doom. Hitler installed Mussolini as the figurehead of the Social Republic of Italy (known informally as the Republic of Salo), a Nazi puppet state in German-occupied northern Italy. Fearing that the Nazis would again try to liberate the dictator, the partisans hid the pair in a remote farmhouse for the night. Then on April 20, 1945, he disbanded his government offices. Last Days of Mussolini (Italian:Mussolini: Ultimo atto) is a 1975 Italian drama film directed by Carlo Lizzani and starring Rod Steiger, Franco Nero and Lisa Gastoni. [10], In any event, Longo instructed a communist partisan of the General Command, Walter Audisio, to go immediately to Dongo to carry out the order. Hello Select your address All Hello, Sign in. The film depicts the down fall of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. It is said that the correspondence included offers from Churchill of peace and territorial concessions in exchange for Mussolini persuading Hitler to join the western Allies in an alliance against the Soviet Union. [56] The discrepancies and obvious exaggerations, coupled with the belief that the Communist Party had selected him to claim responsibility for their own political purposes, led some in Italy to believe that his story was wholly or largely untrue. Account & Lists Account Returns & Orders. Skip to main content.sg. [58][59][60], There have been several claims that Britain's wartime covert operations unit, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was responsible for Mussolini's death, and that it may have even been ordered by the British prime minister, Winston Churchill. [10][66] Journalist Peter Tompkins claimed to have established that "John" was Robert Maccarrone, a British SOE agent who had Sicilian ancestry. [25][26] On arrival in Dongo, they met Bellini delle Stelle, who was the local partisan commander, to arrange for Mussolini to be handed over to them. Eventually Mussolini was discovered slumped in one of the convoy vehicles. [53], The re-interment in the Mussolini family crypt in Predappio was carried out on 1 September 1957, with supporters present giving the fascist salute. Lampredi said that Mussolini's last words were "aim at my heart". There was no possibility that the many ridiculous versions put about in these years were true...The truth is now unmistakably clear". The Italian dictator’s final days and his body’s strange journey in the years after. Mussolini and Petacci were executed the following afternoon, two days before Adolf Hitler's suicide. This film shows the dictator in his last days, troubled, even conscience-ridden, but still the unmistakably arrogant figure of days gone by. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were taken to Milan and left in a suburban square, the Piazzale Loreto, for a large angry crowd to insult and physically abuse. As a post-script, in 1966 Mussolini's brain tissue samples, taken at the autopsy, were returned to his widow by, a German puppet state in northern and central Italy, John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia, "Historic figures: Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)", "Urbano Lazzaro, The partisan who arrested Mussolini", "Mussolini killed 'on Churchill's orders by British agents, "Winston Churchill 'ordered assassination of Mussolini to protect compromising letters, "Mussolini's brain 'stolen for sale on eBay, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Benito_Mussolini&oldid=1012080340, Short description with empty Wikidata description, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 14 March 2021, at 14:06. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. 4.0 out of 5 stars 48. In 1940, Mussolini took his country into World War II on the side of Nazi Germany but soon was met with military failure. The film depicts the downfall of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. [24], Before long, it was noted that there were discrepancies between Audisio's original story published in L'Unità, subsequent versions that he provided and the versions of events provided by others. [6], From mid-April Mussolini based himself in Milan, and he and his government took up residence in the city's Prefecture. The 61-year-old Italian dictator who sought to become a modern-day Julius Caesar had first risen to power more than two decades earlier when he became prime minister in 1922. Skip to main content.sg. Mussolini stormed out of the palace and fled Milan with his 33-year-old mistress, Clara Petacci, in the 1939 Alfa Romeo sport car he had bought as a gift for his girlfriend. After his death and the display of his corpse in Milan, Mussolini, 61 years old, was buried in an unmarked grave in the Musocco cemetery, The re-interment in the Mussolini family crypt in Predappio was carried out on 1 September 1957, with supporters present giving the fascist salute. By the autumn of 1943, he was reduced to being the leader of a German puppet state in northern and central Italy and was faced with the Allied advance from the south and an increasingly violent internal conflict with the partisans. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Initially, Mussolini was buried in an unmarked grave but, in 1946, his body was dug up and stolen by fascist supporters. In it, Lampredi confirmed the key facts of Audisio's story but without the embellishments. A group of local communist partisans led by Pier Luigi Bellini delle Stelle and Urbano Lazzaro attacked the convoy and forced it to halt. Once the Italian government recovered Mussolini’s corpse, it kept its whereabouts secret for more than a decade. He took the country into World War II on the side of Nazi Germany in June 1940. Sie kaufen das gleiche Buch aus den Bildern. On the evening of Mussolini's capture, Sandro Pertini, the Socialist partisan leader in northern Italy, announced on Radio Milano: The head of this association of delinquents, Mussolini, while yellow with rancour and fear and trying to cross the Swiss frontier, has been arrested. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.[17]. The following day, the pair joined a convoy of fellow fascists and German soldiers heading north toward Lake Como and the border with Switzerland. The numbers signing the tomb's register range from dozens to hundreds per day, with thousands signing on certain anniversaries; almost all the comments left are supportive of Mussolini. On the same day as Mussolini left Milan, the CNLAI declared: The members of the fascist government and those fascist leaders who are guilty of having suppressed constitutional guarantees, destroyed the people's freedoms, created the fascist regime, compromised and betrayed the country, bringing it to the current catastrophe are to be punished with the penalty of death.[11]. With his stronghold of Milan teetering on the precipice, Mussolini agreed to meet with a delegation of partisans at the palace of Milan’s Cardinal Alfredo Schuster. [34], In a book he wrote in the 1970s, Audisio argued that the decision to execute Mussolini taken at the meeting in Dongo of the partisan leaders on 28 April constituted a valid judgment of a tribunal under Article 15 of the CNLAI's ordinance on the Constitution of Courts of War. In Predappio, a march takes place between the centre of town and the cemetery. 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