Secret Mussolini: New York Post

Benito: I hated Jews pre-Adolf

November 17, 2009

ROME -- Benito Mussolini was a fierce anti-Semite who proudly said that his hatred for Jews preceded Adolf Hitler's and vowed to "destroy them all," according to previously unpublished diaries by the Fascist dictator's longtime mistress.

According to the diaries, Mussolini also talked about the warm reception he received from Hitler at the 1938 Munich conference -- he called the German leader a "softy" -- and attacked Pope Pius XI for his criticism of Nazism and Fascism.

The diaries kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book coming out this week, "Secret Mussolini."

"I have been a racist since 1921. I don't know how they can think I'm imitating Hitler," Mussolini is quoted as boasting in August 1938.