November 22, 2009
Benito Mussolini sex diaries reveal he 'had 14 lovers at a time'
Mussolini's wild sex life was documented by his mistress
John Follain in Rome
The fascist dictator Benito Mussolini boasted of keeping 14 lovers at one time, according to an eye-popping account of his sex life which has emerged from the diaries of his long-term mistress.
The journals of Claretta Petacci, a Vatican doctor’s daughter who met Mussolini in 1932 at the age of 20 and became his lover four years later, were published last week. Held in the Italian state archives, they cover the period from 1932 to 1938 and were released under Italy’s 70-year rule.
Petacci was so jealous of the other women in Mussolini’s life that she made him call her at least a dozen times a day, and every half hour after he got home in the evening, because she — correctly — suspected him of betraying her. She wrote down the times of the calls and their content.
“The diaries are an intimate chronicle, minute by minute, of the daily life of the founder of fascism,” said Mauro Suttora, who edited the diaries for his book Secret Mussolini.
Petacci unsparingly recorded her rows with Mussolini, 29 years her senior, who was married with five children, over his philandering. In April 1938, Petacci described their exchange after she caught him having sex with his former girlfriend Alice De Fonseca Pallottelli.
“All right, I did it. I hadn’t seen her since before Christmas. I felt like seeing her; I don’t think I committed a crime. I spent 12 minutes with her,” he admitted.
Petacci interrupted to exclaim: “Twenty-four!”
“All right, 24 then, so it was a quick thing. Who cares? she’s past it. After 17 years there’s no enthusiasm; it’s like when I take my wife,” he said. He told her that the idea of sleeping with only one woman was “inconceivable” to him. He said: “There was a period in which I had 14 women, and I’d take three or four every evening, one after the other ... That gives you an idea of my sexuality.”
Again and again he talked about her rivals. One mistress, Cornelia Tanzi, was “frigid, so cold it’s incredible ... Imagine, she never felt anything, not even with me”. Of Giulia Brambilla Carminati, he said: “I met her in 1922 and then I didn’t see her again for more than 10 years ... I never loved her; it was purely physical.”
He swore “on my five children” that he had never loved Romilda Ruspi: “It was a purely physical, sexual attraction ... Every so often, when I felt like it, I’d have her. I took other women in front of her.”
Later, a contrite Mussolini told a tearful Petacci that he had slept with Ruspi again: “My love, don’t cry. I adore you. I’m bad — hit me, hurt me, punish me, but don’t suffer. I love you. I think about you all day, even when I’m working,” he said.
The dictator frequently declared his passion for Petacci. “Your flesh has got me — from now on I’m a slave to your flesh.
“I tremble in telling you, but I have a feverish desire for your delicious little body which I want to kiss all over. And you must adore my body, your giant.”
In February 1938, he told her: “Be afraid of my love. It’s like a cyclone. It’s tremendous; it overwhelms everything. You must tremble.” He added that if he could have done, he would have had sex with her on horseback that day.
The diaries include her descriptions of their embraces: “I can feel that all his nerves are taut and ready to spring,” she wrote. “I hold him tightly. I kiss him and we make love with such fury that his screams seem like those of a wounded beast. Then, exhausted, he falls onto the bed.”
After another encounter, she wrote that he had hurt her: “We made love with such force that he bit my shoulder so hard his teeth left a mark. He’s mortified; he sits on the bed looking a bit pale and panting: ‘My love, what have I done to you, look at that mark. One of these days I’ll tear a shoulder off’.”
He boasted of the “sexual education” he had given her and lectured her on the benefits of orgasm: “Orgasm is good for you: it sharpens your thoughts, it widens your horizons, it helps your brain, makes it vivid and brilliant.”
In a prescient exchange in March 1938, Mussolini told Petacci: “You know why I’m sorry to die? Because I’m sorry to leave you. But after at least two years you’ll get another lover. You’ll belong to another ... And I’ll be dead. It’s terrible. I won’t survive you; I’ll follow you. I was born for you; I will end with you.”
Seven years later, after he had been deposed, Mussolini and Petacci were caught by partisans as they tried to flee Italy, shot dead and strung up by their heels at a petrol station in a Milan square.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6926970.ece
Showing posts with label secret mussolini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label secret mussolini. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Pakistan: Hindustan Times
Pakistan, Nov. 24 -- Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator, had 14 lovers at the same time, the diaries of his long-term mistress reveal.Claretta Petacci was the daughter of a Vatican doctor, who met Mussolini in 1932 when she was 20 and became his mistress four years later.Her journal published last week describes the period from 1932 to 1938.
The Times quoted Mauro Suttora, who edited the diaries for his book Secret Mussolini, as saying: "The diaries are an intimate chronicle, minute by minute, of the daily life of the founder of fascism."Petacci was sure that Mussolini, who was married and had five children, had numerous other affairs so she made him call her up nearly a dozen times in a day. In her diary she has written the times of the calls and their conversation.
The Times quoted Mauro Suttora, who edited the diaries for his book Secret Mussolini, as saying: "The diaries are an intimate chronicle, minute by minute, of the daily life of the founder of fascism."Petacci was sure that Mussolini, who was married and had five children, had numerous other affairs so she made him call her up nearly a dozen times in a day. In her diary she has written the times of the calls and their conversation.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Jerusalem Post: Fierce anti-Semite
Mistress' diary: Mussolini was a fierce anti-Semite
Nov. 17, 2009
THE JERUSALEM POST
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.
Excerpts were published Monday.
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.
On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women.
The dairies kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book coming out this week entitled "Secret Mussolini." Excerpts were published Monday by Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera and confirmed by publisher Rizzoli.
Historians said the diaries appeared to be convincing and reinforced the image that Mussolini was strongly anti-Semitic, even though early on there was some Jewish support for his Fascist movement. But they cautioned that these are the diaries of the dictator's lover - not Mussolini himself - and therefore must be taken with an extra grain of salt.
Corriere said the diaries shed new light on Mussolini, who had been seen as more obsequious toward the pope and "dubious" over Italy's racial laws, which led to widespread persecution of Italian Jews.
Many of the excerpts that were published date to 1938, a crucial year during which Mussolini's Fascist regime passed the racial laws and Europe sealed its appeasement toward Nazi Germany at the Munich conference.
"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. "We must give Italians a sense of race."
Italy's racial laws restricted the rights of Jews and expelled them from government, university and other fields.
In 1943, German troops occupied northern and central Italy, and thousands of Jews were deported. According to some researchers, there were 32,000 Jews in 1943 in Italy, of whom over 8,000 were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
"These disgusting Jews, I must destroy them all," Mussolini was quoted as saying by his lover in October 1938. At another point he calls them "enemies" and "reptiles," according to the excerpts.
Mussolini also denounced Pius XI, who saw the rise of anti-Semitism in the last years of his 1922-39 papacy, as harming the Catholic Church. Pius commissioned an encyclical to denounce racism and the violent nationalism of Germany, but he died before releasing it and it was never published.
The Fascist dictator said that "there never was a pope as harmful to religion" as Pius XI and accused him of doing "undignified things, such as saying we are similar to the Semites," according to the excerpts.
For years, the Vatican has struggled to defend Pius' successor - the wartime Pope Pius XII - against claims he didn't do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust.
Mussolini had kind words for Hitler, whom he said was "very nice" and had tears in his eyes when he met the Italian dictator in Munich. "Hitler is a big softy, deep down," Mussolini is quoted as telling Petacci on October 1, 1938, shortly after the conference.
Mussolini also wrote to Petacci about his "mad desire" for her "little body" and his regret over having had relations with other women. "I adore you and I'm a fool. I mustn't make you suffer," he was quoted as saying.
Mussolini and Petacci were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945, and their bodies were displayed to a jeering crowd hanging upside-down from a gas station in a Milan square.
Piero Melograni, a historian who has written several books on Fascism and World War II, said the excerpts were "convincing in terms of the character that emerges and therefore the authenticity of the diaries."
He said the diaries appear to strengthen the notion of a strongly anti-Semitic Mussolini, as demonstrated by the 1938 laws and several speeches. But he said the personal quotes almost "humanize" him.
Another prominent historian, Giovanni Sabbatucci, said that while he has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the diaries, he is less sure of their historical significance because they might not reflect Mussolini's real thoughts.
"We must not forget that, even when authentic, we are reading what a mistress was writing about what her lover told her," he said in a phone interview.
Sabbatucci said that while there is no doubt that Mussolini had developed a strong anti-Semitism in the later years of his life, historians are split as to when these sentiments began. The diaries appear to show he developed them earlier rather than later, but Sabbatucci was doubtful.
"We must not take for granted that she correctly wrote what she was told. And we must not take for granted that what she was told was the truth and not some lover talk," said Sabbatucci, who teaches contemporary history at Rome's Sapienza University.
Nov. 17, 2009
THE JERUSALEM POST
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.
Excerpts were published Monday.
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.
On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women.
The dairies kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book coming out this week entitled "Secret Mussolini." Excerpts were published Monday by Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera and confirmed by publisher Rizzoli.
Historians said the diaries appeared to be convincing and reinforced the image that Mussolini was strongly anti-Semitic, even though early on there was some Jewish support for his Fascist movement. But they cautioned that these are the diaries of the dictator's lover - not Mussolini himself - and therefore must be taken with an extra grain of salt.
Corriere said the diaries shed new light on Mussolini, who had been seen as more obsequious toward the pope and "dubious" over Italy's racial laws, which led to widespread persecution of Italian Jews.
Many of the excerpts that were published date to 1938, a crucial year during which Mussolini's Fascist regime passed the racial laws and Europe sealed its appeasement toward Nazi Germany at the Munich conference.
"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. "We must give Italians a sense of race."
Italy's racial laws restricted the rights of Jews and expelled them from government, university and other fields.
In 1943, German troops occupied northern and central Italy, and thousands of Jews were deported. According to some researchers, there were 32,000 Jews in 1943 in Italy, of whom over 8,000 were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
"These disgusting Jews, I must destroy them all," Mussolini was quoted as saying by his lover in October 1938. At another point he calls them "enemies" and "reptiles," according to the excerpts.
Mussolini also denounced Pius XI, who saw the rise of anti-Semitism in the last years of his 1922-39 papacy, as harming the Catholic Church. Pius commissioned an encyclical to denounce racism and the violent nationalism of Germany, but he died before releasing it and it was never published.
The Fascist dictator said that "there never was a pope as harmful to religion" as Pius XI and accused him of doing "undignified things, such as saying we are similar to the Semites," according to the excerpts.
For years, the Vatican has struggled to defend Pius' successor - the wartime Pope Pius XII - against claims he didn't do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust.
Mussolini had kind words for Hitler, whom he said was "very nice" and had tears in his eyes when he met the Italian dictator in Munich. "Hitler is a big softy, deep down," Mussolini is quoted as telling Petacci on October 1, 1938, shortly after the conference.
Mussolini also wrote to Petacci about his "mad desire" for her "little body" and his regret over having had relations with other women. "I adore you and I'm a fool. I mustn't make you suffer," he was quoted as saying.
Mussolini and Petacci were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945, and their bodies were displayed to a jeering crowd hanging upside-down from a gas station in a Milan square.
Piero Melograni, a historian who has written several books on Fascism and World War II, said the excerpts were "convincing in terms of the character that emerges and therefore the authenticity of the diaries."
He said the diaries appear to strengthen the notion of a strongly anti-Semitic Mussolini, as demonstrated by the 1938 laws and several speeches. But he said the personal quotes almost "humanize" him.
Another prominent historian, Giovanni Sabbatucci, said that while he has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the diaries, he is less sure of their historical significance because they might not reflect Mussolini's real thoughts.
"We must not forget that, even when authentic, we are reading what a mistress was writing about what her lover told her," he said in a phone interview.
Sabbatucci said that while there is no doubt that Mussolini had developed a strong anti-Semitism in the later years of his life, historians are split as to when these sentiments began. The diaries appear to show he developed them earlier rather than later, but Sabbatucci was doubtful.
"We must not take for granted that she correctly wrote what she was told. And we must not take for granted that what she was told was the truth and not some lover talk," said Sabbatucci, who teaches contemporary history at Rome's Sapienza University.
Haaretz: Mussolini: "I'll build an island for the Jews"
'Mussolini: I'll build an island and put all the Jews there'
Haaretz
Nov 17, 2009
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was a rabid anti-Semite who called Adolf Hitler "a big romantic" and despised the pope, a new book of his mistress Claretta Petacci's diaries revealed, AFP reported on Monday.
The Corriere della Sera daily reportedly published extracts of the book "Secret Mussolini," taken from diaries written between 1932 and 1938, on Monday two days before it hits Italian book shops.
While on a boating trip on August 4, 1938, Mussolini talked about the German dictator's new anti-Semitic laws with his mistress, saying "I've been racist since 1921," according to AFP.
"I don't know how they can think that I'm imitating Hitler, he wasn't born yet..." he was quoted as saying. "We must give Italians a feeling of race so that they don't create half-castes, so that they don't spoil what is beautiful about us."
Two months later, on October 11, Mussolini is again at sea with Petacci, when he was quoted as saying: "Those bloody Jews, they should be destroyed ... I'll build an island and put them all there... They don't even have any gratitude, recognition, not even a letter of thanks... They say we need them, their money, their help."
Mussolini's regime was generally considered less ideologically extreme than that of Hitler, who created concentration camps during the Holocaust to exterminate what he considered "inferior" people and races, including Jews.
On October 1, 1938, after the Munich Conference that gave Hitler a slice of Czechoslovakia, Mussolini tells his mistress that "the Fuhrer is very nice. Hitler is a big romantic at heart. When he saw me he had tears in his eyes. He really likes me a lot," AFP reported.
Diary entries also reportedly show Mussolini's anger with pope Pius XI who said he was "spiritually close to all Semites" and called for Catholic marriages to Jews to be recognised.
Haaretz
Nov 17, 2009
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was a rabid anti-Semite who called Adolf Hitler "a big romantic" and despised the pope, a new book of his mistress Claretta Petacci's diaries revealed, AFP reported on Monday.
The Corriere della Sera daily reportedly published extracts of the book "Secret Mussolini," taken from diaries written between 1932 and 1938, on Monday two days before it hits Italian book shops.
While on a boating trip on August 4, 1938, Mussolini talked about the German dictator's new anti-Semitic laws with his mistress, saying "I've been racist since 1921," according to AFP.
"I don't know how they can think that I'm imitating Hitler, he wasn't born yet..." he was quoted as saying. "We must give Italians a feeling of race so that they don't create half-castes, so that they don't spoil what is beautiful about us."
Two months later, on October 11, Mussolini is again at sea with Petacci, when he was quoted as saying: "Those bloody Jews, they should be destroyed ... I'll build an island and put them all there... They don't even have any gratitude, recognition, not even a letter of thanks... They say we need them, their money, their help."
Mussolini's regime was generally considered less ideologically extreme than that of Hitler, who created concentration camps during the Holocaust to exterminate what he considered "inferior" people and races, including Jews.
On October 1, 1938, after the Munich Conference that gave Hitler a slice of Czechoslovakia, Mussolini tells his mistress that "the Fuhrer is very nice. Hitler is a big romantic at heart. When he saw me he had tears in his eyes. He really likes me a lot," AFP reported.
Diary entries also reportedly show Mussolini's anger with pope Pius XI who said he was "spiritually close to all Semites" and called for Catholic marriages to Jews to be recognised.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Express (Gb): "Hitler? Just a big softie"
The Express
November 19, 2009 Thursday
U.K. 1st Edition
By Paul Callan
Hitler? Just a big softie
At least that's how Mussolini saw his 'sentimental' friend, according to an astonishing new diary written by the Italian buffoon's mistress
HITLER was looking anxious and excited as he waited in the thickly-carpeted conference room in Munich late that October day in 1938.
Then, in through the wide open doors strolled the burly figure of Benito Mussolini, the Italian Fascist leader, dressed in an ornate uniform.
Hitler approached, hand outstretched in greeting, a delighted smile across his face. As the two dictators hailed one another, Mussolini could not help but notice that Hitler was actually crying.
This somewhat astonishing revelation is contained in the newly-published diaries of Clara Petacci, Mussolini's glamorous dark-haired mistress. The diaries, published as a book entitled Secret Mussolini, are held by her nephew, who lives in the US. They reveal that the Italian leader saw a sentimental side to Hitler's nature.
Miss Petacci recalled how Mussolini described to her the Munich conference where he, Hitler and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, discussed the carve-up of Czechoslovakia.
"The welcome at Munich was fantastic and the Führer was very pleasant. Hitler is an old sentimentalist at heart. When he saw me, he had tears in his eyes. He really does like me a lot. But he does have angry outbursts, which only I can control. There were sparks and he was quivering, as he struggled to control himself. I, on the other hand, was unperturbed."
It is historically astonishing - if these claims are to be believed - that Hitler had such an emotionally charged high regard for Mussolini, a puffed-up, posturing braggart.
But Hitler greatly admired Mussolini, who had come to power in Italy in 1922 - 11 years before Hitler himself would become Chancellor of Germany and subject his country to the horrors of Nazism. Hitler felt a deep kinship with Mussolini and, at that point, considered him a close political brother. Hitler considered Italy one of the natural friends of his new Germany. He admired the country's art and once stated: "My dearest wish would be to be able to wander about Italy as an unknown painter."
Both men shared an obsessive nature, similar ideologies and a determination to maintain total power.
But in the relationship it seems that Hitler was the greater enthusiast. "He seemed like someone in love asking news about the person they loved, " recalled one SS colonel who had been quizzed by Hitler about Mussolini.
The Führer made many requests to meet the Italian leader but was constantly rebuffed and became visibly emotional whenever he discussed the object of his admiration.
But Mussolini was less enthusiastic.
"He's mad, " he is said to have observed on meeting Hitler for the first time.
"Instead of speaking to me about current problems, he recited to me from memory parts of his book, Mein Kampf, that enormous brick which I have never been able to read."
It is, of course, not unusual for dictators and men of evil to display a seemingly uncharacteristic gentle side to their nature. Josef Stalin, the Russian dictator who murdered even more than Hitler over a long period, would often weep easily while drunk.
He became maudlin and was easily moved by sentimental music.
In a psychological profile prepared for the US government during the war, it was concluded that Hitler had a "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde personality structure comprising two wholly different people". On the one hand, Hitler proved to be this "iron man" who felt little or no feeling for the millions who died as a result of his terrible actions.
ON THE other hand there were many times when the other side of Hitler's personality was seen in public - one which contrasted sharply with the evil in his nature.
On one occasion there was a commemorative service for German sailors who had died when the battleship Deutschland was bombed.
Hitler spoke passionately to a huge crowd, after which he walked down the line of survivors.
"The first widow to whom Hitler spoke a few words cried violently, " according to a report of the event.
"Her child, who was 10 years old and who stood next to his bereaved mother, began to cry heart-rendingly.
Hitler patted him on the head and turned uncertainly to the next in line.
Before he could speak a word Hitler was suddenly overcome. He span completely around and left the carefully prepared programme flat. Followed by his utterly surprised companions, he walked as fast as he could to his car and had himself driven away."
The US psychological report observed that, of the two personalities that inhabited Hitler's body one was a very soft, sentimental and indecisive individual "who has little drive and wants nothing quite so much as to be amused, liked and looked after".
The other personality was the opposite - hard, cruel and decisive with "an abundant reservoir of energy".
It was the first Hitler who, on one memorable occasion, wept profusely at the death of his canary.
But it was the second Hitler, the flint-hearted one, who would often scream: "Heads will roll for this."
Similarly, it was the sentimental Hitler who could not bring himself to discharge an assistant. But it was the second Hitler who could easily order the murder of thousands, including some of his best friends, and say with bloodthirsty conviction: "There will be no peace in the land until a body hangs from every lamppost."
US President Roosevelt also ordered a psychological profile be built up of Hitler. Psychiatrist Dr Henry Murray considered he played not two, but many parts. These included "expressionless Hitler", who would stand "like an unthinking dummy with an upraised hand at the front of a six-wheeled motorcar that moved at a slow pace down the great avenue between serried ranks of worshipful adherents". There was the "embarrassed Hitler" - always ill at ease in the presence of a stranger, an aristocrat, a general or anyone who made him feel inferior.
Dr Murray also broke down the Führer's personality into a "gracious Hitler" - soft, good-natured, gentle and informal - and even a "sentimental Hitler", who was easily moved to tears.
These all contrasted with a "possessed Hitler" who shrieked with fanatical fury as he addressed the masses, a "hysterical Hitler" who will even roll on the carpet with fury and shake with terror when he woke from a nightmare, and there was even the "apathetic Hitler", a limp, indolent and indecisive creature.
Nazi aides also recall that Hitler would break down and weep like a child pleading for sympathy when he found himself in difficult situations.
One such aide recalled: "In 1934, he complained of the ingratitude of the German people in the sobbing tones of a down-at-heel musichall performer. A weakling who accused and sulked, appealed and implored and retired in wounded vanity."
Hitler continued to support and admire Mussolini as the war progressed.
But this admiration started to erode after July 1943, when Mussolini was stripped of power and arrested after a revolt within his inner circle.
Hitler was afraid of the propaganda value that would follow if Mussolini was turned over to the Allies, now fighting steadily through Italy. So he personally ordered one of his favourite commandos, Captain Otto Skorzeny, the head of Hunting Group 502, to rescue Mussolini.
After locating the Italian dictator, who had been placed under house arrest in a remote hotel on top of Gran Sasso, a 6,000-feet-high mountain 80 miles north-east of Rome, Skorzeny and his men swooped in on 12 gliders.
Not a shot was fired and Skorzeny informed Mussolini: "The Führer has sent me to set you free."
Mussolini replied: "I knew my friend Adolf Hitler would not abandon me."
But the end came for Mussolini in April 1945 when he and Clara Petacci were captured as they attempted to board a plane bound for Switzerland.
The next day, both were executed and their bodies hung unceremoniously upside-down from a lamppost outside a Milan petrol station.
This time Hitler, doubtless more concerned about what remained of his own future, did not weep.
November 19, 2009 Thursday
U.K. 1st Edition
By Paul Callan
Hitler? Just a big softie
At least that's how Mussolini saw his 'sentimental' friend, according to an astonishing new diary written by the Italian buffoon's mistress
HITLER was looking anxious and excited as he waited in the thickly-carpeted conference room in Munich late that October day in 1938.
Then, in through the wide open doors strolled the burly figure of Benito Mussolini, the Italian Fascist leader, dressed in an ornate uniform.
Hitler approached, hand outstretched in greeting, a delighted smile across his face. As the two dictators hailed one another, Mussolini could not help but notice that Hitler was actually crying.
This somewhat astonishing revelation is contained in the newly-published diaries of Clara Petacci, Mussolini's glamorous dark-haired mistress. The diaries, published as a book entitled Secret Mussolini, are held by her nephew, who lives in the US. They reveal that the Italian leader saw a sentimental side to Hitler's nature.
Miss Petacci recalled how Mussolini described to her the Munich conference where he, Hitler and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, discussed the carve-up of Czechoslovakia.
"The welcome at Munich was fantastic and the Führer was very pleasant. Hitler is an old sentimentalist at heart. When he saw me, he had tears in his eyes. He really does like me a lot. But he does have angry outbursts, which only I can control. There were sparks and he was quivering, as he struggled to control himself. I, on the other hand, was unperturbed."
It is historically astonishing - if these claims are to be believed - that Hitler had such an emotionally charged high regard for Mussolini, a puffed-up, posturing braggart.
But Hitler greatly admired Mussolini, who had come to power in Italy in 1922 - 11 years before Hitler himself would become Chancellor of Germany and subject his country to the horrors of Nazism. Hitler felt a deep kinship with Mussolini and, at that point, considered him a close political brother. Hitler considered Italy one of the natural friends of his new Germany. He admired the country's art and once stated: "My dearest wish would be to be able to wander about Italy as an unknown painter."
Both men shared an obsessive nature, similar ideologies and a determination to maintain total power.
But in the relationship it seems that Hitler was the greater enthusiast. "He seemed like someone in love asking news about the person they loved, " recalled one SS colonel who had been quizzed by Hitler about Mussolini.
The Führer made many requests to meet the Italian leader but was constantly rebuffed and became visibly emotional whenever he discussed the object of his admiration.
But Mussolini was less enthusiastic.
"He's mad, " he is said to have observed on meeting Hitler for the first time.
"Instead of speaking to me about current problems, he recited to me from memory parts of his book, Mein Kampf, that enormous brick which I have never been able to read."
It is, of course, not unusual for dictators and men of evil to display a seemingly uncharacteristic gentle side to their nature. Josef Stalin, the Russian dictator who murdered even more than Hitler over a long period, would often weep easily while drunk.
He became maudlin and was easily moved by sentimental music.
In a psychological profile prepared for the US government during the war, it was concluded that Hitler had a "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde personality structure comprising two wholly different people". On the one hand, Hitler proved to be this "iron man" who felt little or no feeling for the millions who died as a result of his terrible actions.
ON THE other hand there were many times when the other side of Hitler's personality was seen in public - one which contrasted sharply with the evil in his nature.
On one occasion there was a commemorative service for German sailors who had died when the battleship Deutschland was bombed.
Hitler spoke passionately to a huge crowd, after which he walked down the line of survivors.
"The first widow to whom Hitler spoke a few words cried violently, " according to a report of the event.
"Her child, who was 10 years old and who stood next to his bereaved mother, began to cry heart-rendingly.
Hitler patted him on the head and turned uncertainly to the next in line.
Before he could speak a word Hitler was suddenly overcome. He span completely around and left the carefully prepared programme flat. Followed by his utterly surprised companions, he walked as fast as he could to his car and had himself driven away."
The US psychological report observed that, of the two personalities that inhabited Hitler's body one was a very soft, sentimental and indecisive individual "who has little drive and wants nothing quite so much as to be amused, liked and looked after".
The other personality was the opposite - hard, cruel and decisive with "an abundant reservoir of energy".
It was the first Hitler who, on one memorable occasion, wept profusely at the death of his canary.
But it was the second Hitler, the flint-hearted one, who would often scream: "Heads will roll for this."
Similarly, it was the sentimental Hitler who could not bring himself to discharge an assistant. But it was the second Hitler who could easily order the murder of thousands, including some of his best friends, and say with bloodthirsty conviction: "There will be no peace in the land until a body hangs from every lamppost."
US President Roosevelt also ordered a psychological profile be built up of Hitler. Psychiatrist Dr Henry Murray considered he played not two, but many parts. These included "expressionless Hitler", who would stand "like an unthinking dummy with an upraised hand at the front of a six-wheeled motorcar that moved at a slow pace down the great avenue between serried ranks of worshipful adherents". There was the "embarrassed Hitler" - always ill at ease in the presence of a stranger, an aristocrat, a general or anyone who made him feel inferior.
Dr Murray also broke down the Führer's personality into a "gracious Hitler" - soft, good-natured, gentle and informal - and even a "sentimental Hitler", who was easily moved to tears.
These all contrasted with a "possessed Hitler" who shrieked with fanatical fury as he addressed the masses, a "hysterical Hitler" who will even roll on the carpet with fury and shake with terror when he woke from a nightmare, and there was even the "apathetic Hitler", a limp, indolent and indecisive creature.
Nazi aides also recall that Hitler would break down and weep like a child pleading for sympathy when he found himself in difficult situations.
One such aide recalled: "In 1934, he complained of the ingratitude of the German people in the sobbing tones of a down-at-heel musichall performer. A weakling who accused and sulked, appealed and implored and retired in wounded vanity."
Hitler continued to support and admire Mussolini as the war progressed.
But this admiration started to erode after July 1943, when Mussolini was stripped of power and arrested after a revolt within his inner circle.
Hitler was afraid of the propaganda value that would follow if Mussolini was turned over to the Allies, now fighting steadily through Italy. So he personally ordered one of his favourite commandos, Captain Otto Skorzeny, the head of Hunting Group 502, to rescue Mussolini.
After locating the Italian dictator, who had been placed under house arrest in a remote hotel on top of Gran Sasso, a 6,000-feet-high mountain 80 miles north-east of Rome, Skorzeny and his men swooped in on 12 gliders.
Not a shot was fired and Skorzeny informed Mussolini: "The Führer has sent me to set you free."
Mussolini replied: "I knew my friend Adolf Hitler would not abandon me."
But the end came for Mussolini in April 1945 when he and Clara Petacci were captured as they attempted to board a plane bound for Switzerland.
The next day, both were executed and their bodies hung unceremoniously upside-down from a lamppost outside a Milan petrol station.
This time Hitler, doubtless more concerned about what remained of his own future, did not weep.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Daily Telegraph: Secret Mussolini
Benito Mussolini regarded Adolf Hitler as a teary-eyed "sentimentalist" but was jealous of the Nazi dictator's power and fame, diaries written by the Italian leader's mistress reveal.
By Nick Squires in Rome
16 Nov 2009
Claretta Petacci's journals, which will be published this week, describe a meeting he had with the German leader in 1938 after British prime minister Neville Chamberlain agreed to Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland.
"The Fuhrer was very kind. At heart, Hitler is an old sentimentalist. When he saw me he had tears in his eyes," Mussolini told his lover.
The diaries also show Mussolini was irritated by being regarded as a junior partner to Hitler, maintaining that his fascism and anti-Semitism dated back to the 1920s, before Hitler rose to prominence.
"I've been racist since 1921," he proudly told his mistress on a boating trip on August 4, 1938, two years before Italy declared war on Britain.
"I don't know how they can think that I'm imitating Hitler, he wasn't even born then (in a political sense)."
In another diary entry, Mussolini rails against Italians in Italy's African colonies having relationships with locals.
"Every time I get a report from Africa, it makes me upset. Just today, another five arrested for living with blacks. Ah! These dirty Italians, they are destroying in less than seven years an empire. They have no consciousness of race."
The book, Secret Mussolini, contains extracts from Petacci's diaries written between 1932 and 1938.
They say Mussolini was madly in love with Miss Petacci, once telling her he mentally undressed her at the theatre and that he had a "mad desire" for her.
She was just 20 when she met the fascist dictator, who was married with children and 29 years her senior.
In April 1945, with total defeat looming, the couple tried to escape to Switzerland but were caught by Italian partisans, executed and strung up from a petrol station near Milan.
The diaries make it plain that he was infatuated with her. "Do you know, my darling, that last night at the theatre I undressed you at least three times?" she recalls him telling her in January 1938.
"I was crazy with desire for you. Your small body, your flesh for which I'm crazy, tomorrow will be mine."
By Nick Squires in Rome
16 Nov 2009
Claretta Petacci's journals, which will be published this week, describe a meeting he had with the German leader in 1938 after British prime minister Neville Chamberlain agreed to Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland.
"The Fuhrer was very kind. At heart, Hitler is an old sentimentalist. When he saw me he had tears in his eyes," Mussolini told his lover.
The diaries also show Mussolini was irritated by being regarded as a junior partner to Hitler, maintaining that his fascism and anti-Semitism dated back to the 1920s, before Hitler rose to prominence.
"I've been racist since 1921," he proudly told his mistress on a boating trip on August 4, 1938, two years before Italy declared war on Britain.
"I don't know how they can think that I'm imitating Hitler, he wasn't even born then (in a political sense)."
In another diary entry, Mussolini rails against Italians in Italy's African colonies having relationships with locals.
"Every time I get a report from Africa, it makes me upset. Just today, another five arrested for living with blacks. Ah! These dirty Italians, they are destroying in less than seven years an empire. They have no consciousness of race."
The book, Secret Mussolini, contains extracts from Petacci's diaries written between 1932 and 1938.
They say Mussolini was madly in love with Miss Petacci, once telling her he mentally undressed her at the theatre and that he had a "mad desire" for her.
She was just 20 when she met the fascist dictator, who was married with children and 29 years her senior.
In April 1945, with total defeat looming, the couple tried to escape to Switzerland but were caught by Italian partisans, executed and strung up from a petrol station near Milan.
The diaries make it plain that he was infatuated with her. "Do you know, my darling, that last night at the theatre I undressed you at least three times?" she recalls him telling her in January 1938.
"I was crazy with desire for you. Your small body, your flesh for which I'm crazy, tomorrow will be mine."
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Jerusalem Post: Fierce anti-Semite
Mistress' diary: Mussolini was a fierce anti-Semite
Nov. 17, 2009
THE JERUSALEM POST
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.
Excerpts were published Monday.
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.
On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women.
The dairies kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book coming out this week entitled "Secret Mussolini." Excerpts were published Monday by Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera and confirmed by publisher Rizzoli.
Historians said the diaries appeared to be convincing and reinforced the image that Mussolini was strongly anti-Semitic, even though early on there was some Jewish support for his Fascist movement. But they cautioned that these are the diaries of the dictator's lover - not Mussolini himself - and therefore must be taken with an extra grain of salt.
Corriere said the diaries shed new light on Mussolini, who had been seen as more obsequious toward the pope and "dubious" over Italy's racial laws, which led to widespread persecution of Italian Jews.
Many of the excerpts that were published date to 1938, a crucial year during which Mussolini's Fascist regime passed the racial laws and Europe sealed its appeasement toward Nazi Germany at the Munich conference.
"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. "We must give Italians a sense of race."
Italy's racial laws restricted the rights of Jews and expelled them from government, university and other fields.
In 1943, German troops occupied northern and central Italy, and thousands of Jews were deported. According to some researchers, there were 32,000 Jews in 1943 in Italy, of whom over 8,000 were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
"These disgusting Jews, I must destroy them all," Mussolini was quoted as saying by his lover in October 1938. At another point he calls them "enemies" and "reptiles," according to the excerpts.
Mussolini also denounced Pius XI, who saw the rise of anti-Semitism in the last years of his 1922-39 papacy, as harming the Catholic Church. Pius commissioned an encyclical to denounce racism and the violent nationalism of Germany, but he died before releasing it and it was never published.
The Fascist dictator said that "there never was a pope as harmful to religion" as Pius XI and accused him of doing "undignified things, such as saying we are similar to the Semites," according to the excerpts.
For years, the Vatican has struggled to defend Pius' successor - the wartime Pope Pius XII - against claims he didn't do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust.
Mussolini had kind words for Hitler, whom he said was "very nice" and had tears in his eyes when he met the Italian dictator in Munich. "Hitler is a big softy, deep down," Mussolini is quoted as telling Petacci on October 1, 1938, shortly after the conference.
Mussolini also wrote to Petacci about his "mad desire" for her "little body" and his regret over having had relations with other women. "I adore you and I'm a fool. I mustn't make you suffer," he was quoted as saying.
Mussolini and Petacci were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945, and their bodies were displayed to a jeering crowd hanging upside-down from a gas station in a Milan square.
Piero Melograni, a historian who has written several books on Fascism and World War II, said the excerpts were "convincing in terms of the character that emerges and therefore the authenticity of the diaries."
He said the diaries appear to strengthen the notion of a strongly anti-Semitic Mussolini, as demonstrated by the 1938 laws and several speeches. But he said the personal quotes almost "humanize" him.
Another prominent historian, Giovanni Sabbatucci, said that while he has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the diaries, he is less sure of their historical significance because they might not reflect Mussolini's real thoughts.
"We must not forget that, even when authentic, we are reading what a mistress was writing about what her lover told her," he said in a phone interview.
Sabbatucci said that while there is no doubt that Mussolini had developed a strong anti-Semitism in the later years of his life, historians are split as to when these sentiments began. The diaries appear to show he developed them earlier rather than later, but Sabbatucci was doubtful.
"We must not take for granted that she correctly wrote what she was told. And we must not take for granted that what she was told was the truth and not some lover talk," said Sabbatucci, who teaches contemporary history at Rome's Sapienza University.
Nov. 17, 2009
THE JERUSALEM POST
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.
Excerpts were published Monday.
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.
On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women.
The dairies kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book coming out this week entitled "Secret Mussolini." Excerpts were published Monday by Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera and confirmed by publisher Rizzoli.
Historians said the diaries appeared to be convincing and reinforced the image that Mussolini was strongly anti-Semitic, even though early on there was some Jewish support for his Fascist movement. But they cautioned that these are the diaries of the dictator's lover - not Mussolini himself - and therefore must be taken with an extra grain of salt.
Corriere said the diaries shed new light on Mussolini, who had been seen as more obsequious toward the pope and "dubious" over Italy's racial laws, which led to widespread persecution of Italian Jews.
Many of the excerpts that were published date to 1938, a crucial year during which Mussolini's Fascist regime passed the racial laws and Europe sealed its appeasement toward Nazi Germany at the Munich conference.
"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. "We must give Italians a sense of race."
Italy's racial laws restricted the rights of Jews and expelled them from government, university and other fields.
In 1943, German troops occupied northern and central Italy, and thousands of Jews were deported. According to some researchers, there were 32,000 Jews in 1943 in Italy, of whom over 8,000 were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
"These disgusting Jews, I must destroy them all," Mussolini was quoted as saying by his lover in October 1938. At another point he calls them "enemies" and "reptiles," according to the excerpts.
Mussolini also denounced Pius XI, who saw the rise of anti-Semitism in the last years of his 1922-39 papacy, as harming the Catholic Church. Pius commissioned an encyclical to denounce racism and the violent nationalism of Germany, but he died before releasing it and it was never published.
The Fascist dictator said that "there never was a pope as harmful to religion" as Pius XI and accused him of doing "undignified things, such as saying we are similar to the Semites," according to the excerpts.
For years, the Vatican has struggled to defend Pius' successor - the wartime Pope Pius XII - against claims he didn't do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust.
Mussolini had kind words for Hitler, whom he said was "very nice" and had tears in his eyes when he met the Italian dictator in Munich. "Hitler is a big softy, deep down," Mussolini is quoted as telling Petacci on October 1, 1938, shortly after the conference.
Mussolini also wrote to Petacci about his "mad desire" for her "little body" and his regret over having had relations with other women. "I adore you and I'm a fool. I mustn't make you suffer," he was quoted as saying.
Mussolini and Petacci were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945, and their bodies were displayed to a jeering crowd hanging upside-down from a gas station in a Milan square.
Piero Melograni, a historian who has written several books on Fascism and World War II, said the excerpts were "convincing in terms of the character that emerges and therefore the authenticity of the diaries."
He said the diaries appear to strengthen the notion of a strongly anti-Semitic Mussolini, as demonstrated by the 1938 laws and several speeches. But he said the personal quotes almost "humanize" him.
Another prominent historian, Giovanni Sabbatucci, said that while he has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the diaries, he is less sure of their historical significance because they might not reflect Mussolini's real thoughts.
"We must not forget that, even when authentic, we are reading what a mistress was writing about what her lover told her," he said in a phone interview.
Sabbatucci said that while there is no doubt that Mussolini had developed a strong anti-Semitism in the later years of his life, historians are split as to when these sentiments began. The diaries appear to show he developed them earlier rather than later, but Sabbatucci was doubtful.
"We must not take for granted that she correctly wrote what she was told. And we must not take for granted that what she was told was the truth and not some lover talk," said Sabbatucci, who teaches contemporary history at Rome's Sapienza University.
Associated Press: 'Mussolini segreto'
MISTRESS' DIARY: MUSSOLINI WAS FIERCE ANTI-SEMITE
ROME (AP) _ 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 Munichconference - he called the German leader a «softy» - and attacked Pope Pius XI for his criticism of Nazism and Fascism.
On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women.
The dairies kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book
coming out this week entitled «Secret Mussolini.» Excerpts were published Monday by Italy's leading daily
Corriere della Sera and confirmed by publisher Rizzoli.
Historians said the diaries appeared to be convincing and reinforced the image that Mussolini was strongly
anti-Semitic, even though early on there was some Jewish support for his Fascist movement. But they cautioned that these are the diaries of the dictator's lover - not Mussolini himself - and therefore must be taken with an
extra grain of salt.
Corriere said the diaries shed new light on Mussolini, who had been seen as more obsequious toward the pope and «dubious» over Italy's racial laws, which led to widespread persecution of Italian Jews.
Many of the excerpts that were published date to 1938, a crucial year during which Mussolini's Fascist regime passed the racial laws and Europe sealed its appeasement toward Nazi Germany at the Munich conference.
«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. «We must give Italians a sense of race.»
Italy's racial laws restricted the rights of Jews and expelled them from government, university and other fields.
In 1943, German troops occupied northern and central Italy, and thousands of Jews were deported. According to some researchers, there were 32,000 Jews in 1943 in Italy, of whom over 8,000 were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
«These disgusting Jews, I must destroy them all,» Mussolini was quoted as saying by his lover in October 1938. At another point he calls them «enemies» and «reptiles,» according to the excerpts.
Mussolini also denounced Pius XI, who saw the rise of anti-Semitism in the last years of his 1922-39 papacy, as harming the Catholic Church. Pius commissioned an encyclical to denounce racism and the violent nationalism of Germany, but he died before releasing it and it was never published.
The Fascist dictator said that «there never was a pope as harmful to religion» as Pius XI and accused him of doing «undignified things, such as saying we are similar to the Semites,» according to the excerpts.
For years, the Vatican has struggled to defend Pius' successor _ the wartime Pope Pius XII _ against claims he
didn't do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust.
Mussolini had kind words for Hitler, whom he said was «very nice» and had tears in his eyes when he met the Italian dictator in Munich. «Hitler is a big softy, deep down,» Mussolini is quoted as telling Petacci on Oct. 1, 1938, shortly after the conference.
Mussolini also wrote to Petacci about his «mad desire» for her «little body» and his regret over having had relations with other women. «I adore you and I'm a fool. I mustn't make you suffer,» he was quoted as saying.
Mussolini and Petacci were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945, and their bodies were displayed to a jeering crowd hanging upside-down from a gas station in a Milan square.
Piero Melograni, a historian who has written several books on Fascism and World War II, said the excerpts were «convincing in terms of the character that emerges and therefore the authenticity of the diaries.»
He said the diaries appear to strengthen the notion of a strongly anti-Semitic Mussolini, as demonstrated by the 1938 laws and several speeches. But he said the personal quotes almost «humanize» him.
Another prominent historian, Giovanni Sabbatucci, said that while he has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the diaries, he is less sure of their historical significance because they might not reflect Mussolini's real thoughts.
«We must not forget that, even when authentic, we are reading what a mistress was writing about what her lover told her,» he said in a phone interview.
Sabbatucci said that while there is no doubt that Mussolini had developed a strong anti-Semitism in the later
years of his life, historians are split as to when these sentiments began. The diaries appear to show he developed
them earlier rather than later, but Sabbatucci was doubtful.
«We must not take for granted that she correctly wrote what she was told. And we must not take for granted that what she was told was the truth and not some lover talk,» said Sabbatucci, who teaches contemporary history at Rome's Sapienza University.
16.11.2009 h 20:25
ROME (AP) _ 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 Munichconference - he called the German leader a «softy» - and attacked Pope Pius XI for his criticism of Nazism and Fascism.
On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women.
The dairies kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book
coming out this week entitled «Secret Mussolini.» Excerpts were published Monday by Italy's leading daily
Corriere della Sera and confirmed by publisher Rizzoli.
Historians said the diaries appeared to be convincing and reinforced the image that Mussolini was strongly
anti-Semitic, even though early on there was some Jewish support for his Fascist movement. But they cautioned that these are the diaries of the dictator's lover - not Mussolini himself - and therefore must be taken with an
extra grain of salt.
Corriere said the diaries shed new light on Mussolini, who had been seen as more obsequious toward the pope and «dubious» over Italy's racial laws, which led to widespread persecution of Italian Jews.
Many of the excerpts that were published date to 1938, a crucial year during which Mussolini's Fascist regime passed the racial laws and Europe sealed its appeasement toward Nazi Germany at the Munich conference.
«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. «We must give Italians a sense of race.»
Italy's racial laws restricted the rights of Jews and expelled them from government, university and other fields.
In 1943, German troops occupied northern and central Italy, and thousands of Jews were deported. According to some researchers, there were 32,000 Jews in 1943 in Italy, of whom over 8,000 were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
«These disgusting Jews, I must destroy them all,» Mussolini was quoted as saying by his lover in October 1938. At another point he calls them «enemies» and «reptiles,» according to the excerpts.
Mussolini also denounced Pius XI, who saw the rise of anti-Semitism in the last years of his 1922-39 papacy, as harming the Catholic Church. Pius commissioned an encyclical to denounce racism and the violent nationalism of Germany, but he died before releasing it and it was never published.
The Fascist dictator said that «there never was a pope as harmful to religion» as Pius XI and accused him of doing «undignified things, such as saying we are similar to the Semites,» according to the excerpts.
For years, the Vatican has struggled to defend Pius' successor _ the wartime Pope Pius XII _ against claims he
didn't do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust.
Mussolini had kind words for Hitler, whom he said was «very nice» and had tears in his eyes when he met the Italian dictator in Munich. «Hitler is a big softy, deep down,» Mussolini is quoted as telling Petacci on Oct. 1, 1938, shortly after the conference.
Mussolini also wrote to Petacci about his «mad desire» for her «little body» and his regret over having had relations with other women. «I adore you and I'm a fool. I mustn't make you suffer,» he was quoted as saying.
Mussolini and Petacci were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945, and their bodies were displayed to a jeering crowd hanging upside-down from a gas station in a Milan square.
Piero Melograni, a historian who has written several books on Fascism and World War II, said the excerpts were «convincing in terms of the character that emerges and therefore the authenticity of the diaries.»
He said the diaries appear to strengthen the notion of a strongly anti-Semitic Mussolini, as demonstrated by the 1938 laws and several speeches. But he said the personal quotes almost «humanize» him.
Another prominent historian, Giovanni Sabbatucci, said that while he has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the diaries, he is less sure of their historical significance because they might not reflect Mussolini's real thoughts.
«We must not forget that, even when authentic, we are reading what a mistress was writing about what her lover told her,» he said in a phone interview.
Sabbatucci said that while there is no doubt that Mussolini had developed a strong anti-Semitism in the later
years of his life, historians are split as to when these sentiments began. The diaries appear to show he developed
them earlier rather than later, but Sabbatucci was doubtful.
«We must not take for granted that she correctly wrote what she was told. And we must not take for granted that what she was told was the truth and not some lover talk,» said Sabbatucci, who teaches contemporary history at Rome's Sapienza University.
16.11.2009 h 20:25
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