Italy opens Benito Mussolini museum

[Jim O]

A museum dedicated to Benito Mussolini has been opened in response to requests by German tourists.

The museum in Salò, on the shores of Lake Garda, examines the last days of fascism in the town that Mussolini used as his headquarters in the final 19 months of the Second World War.

The Republic of Salò was set up by the Nazis after their paratroopers liberated Mussolini from prison in Gran Sasso in September 1943.

From here Il Duce spent his time oppressing Italian partisans and Jews.

He even executed Galeazzo Ciano, his own son-in-law.

Salò still has resonance for many extreme-Right political parties, including the Tricolour Flame, which refers to it as an ideal in its manifesto.

However, Roberto Chiarini, a State University of Milan history professor who is in charge of the project, denied that the museum would encourage nostalgia for Italy's fascist era.

"At last the demonisation of Mussolini has stopped and we can look seriously at the history," he said.

"Until now there were more than 70 historical institutes in Italy devoted to partisans but not one that looked at Salò."


Source: Telegraph

[Klaus]

Ciano? Wasn't he a Botschafter or something like that? I recall some pictures of a Ciano with Hitler an Mussolini. Is that the same?

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Klaus

Ciano? Wasn't he a Botschafter or something like that? I recall some pictures of a Ciano with Hitler an Mussolini. Is that the same?

Yes, he was Mussolini's son in law, a diplomat, and eventually Foreign Minister.


Before signing the Munich agreement. From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, Ciano
Source: http://militera.lib.ru/research/meltyukhov/02.jpg


See also Galeazzo Ciano.

[Klaus]

That is exactly the picture I ment. I got it in an Stickeralbum (which is complete by the way): "Wie die Ostmark durch Adolf Hitler die Befreiung erfuhr". I am reading Winston Churchills memoires right now. And Ciano got mentioned a few times. I think he was foreign Minister. What else would he be doing on that picture.