Power-mad Mussolini sacrificed wife and son

[emad]

Times
From Richard Owen in Rome



BENITO MUSSOLINI drove his secret first wife and son to early deaths in lunatic asylums because they threatened his rise to power. His henchmen then tried to erase all traces of their relationship.
A documentary to be shown on state television tomorrow will shock Italians after recent attempts to rehabilitate Mussolini, who has been portrayed in recent family memoirs as a paternal figure and patriot.

But the documentary, Mussolini’s Secret, paints a black picture of Il Duce’s ruthlessness.

It claims that as a 31-year-old aspiring politician Mussolini married Ida Dalser, 34, a beautician from Sopramonte, near Trento — then part of Austria — in Milan in 1914 at the start of the First World War. The following year — by which time Mussolini was fighting at the front — Signora Dalser gave birth to Benito Albino, whom Mussolini accepted as his son in sworn statements.

The film quotes passionate love letters from Mussolini to Ida. But the marriage turned sour and after Mussolini had risen to power in 1922, Fascist agents sought to erase all traces of the relationship. They overlooked, however, a certificate by Milan city council ordering Mussolini to make maintenance payments and referring to “his wife Ida Dalser” and their child. Gianfranco Norelli, who produced the documentary, said that “the Milan authorities would not have issued such a document without proof of marriage”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1437536,00.html

[bemildred]

1. I don't think it's news that Mussolini was an asshole.

Still, a reminder never hurts.

[Fab1969]

2. Somehow I doubt the Italian state TV (RAI) will devote any time to it

... actually I'm pretty sure of it.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Really? Is RAI that bad?

We have aour own little scandal here in Canada over RAI. Perhaps you've heard about it.

[Fab1969]

7. I've only heard RAI side of it

So I distrust what I've heard, what's the full picture?

[Canuckistanian]

9. RAI mounted a massive lobbying of the CRTC

That's our version of the FCC. They wanted to get the broadcast rules changed to be able to allow political advertising aimed at expatriates here in Canada.
The CRTC refused at first, but then the pressure from Italian-Canadian groups got REALLY intense. The Italian-Canadian MP's and other political officials were lobbied almost to the point of hounding.
But in the end they got what they wanted. But a lot of people are asking how a foreign political entity had so much influence over our domestic affairs.

[Fab1969]

11. You'll be surprised...

but in the RAI International coverage of the ban there was NO, ZERO, NIENTE, ZILCH, mention of the CRTC rules RAI Intl. was in violation of.
All they said was that Italian expatriates were deprived of their god-given right to watch Italian Programming.

Thanks for the info!

[MisterP]

17. or Silvio's networks...

[w4rma]

4. It is in Italy where Berlusconi controls almost all of the media (nt)

[Fab1969]

8. Yes

As PM he controls the public TV stations (49% of the audience) as a CEO he controls the private TV stations (49% of the audience).

[NYC]

3. Kerik also tried to pretend his first wife didn't exist.

...tried to erase all traces of their relationship...

[jobycom]

13. Yeah, but at least he just abandoned them, rather than murdering them

I'm no Kerik fan, he's a jackass, but I think Musollini trumps him in the monster category.

[NYC]

18. True, I give Kerik credit for that.

I have a picture of Mussolini hanging upside down with his mistress. In the end, he got what he deserved.

[Blue_Tires]

5. look for the wives and children of SS Lazio's supporters

to 'disappear' in the near future, following the lead of their idol

[Straight Shooter]

10. Egomaniacal powermongers will sacrifice anybody who stands in their way.

I've seen a lot of posts about, "Why doesn't bush send Jenna and Barbara to Iraq?"

Here's what I think:

I think Little Boots would do it in a New York minute if it were all that stood between an 80% approval rating and a 30% approval rating. He did refer to his daughters as "a pain in the ass" but I cannot remember the circumstance; it was a one-on-one type of interview. I don't remember any photo-ops of father-daughter closeness until the campaign, either. The whole family is a cardboard-cutout caricature.

Anyway, bush could claim that Gawd told him it was the right thing to do, in the Biblical tradition of Abraham and Isaac and sacrifice.

[jobycom]

14. The twins

Bush didn't go to their graduation, he didn't go to their trials when they were arrested, and he took no part in their lives. That's why they are the tramps and troublemakers they are now-- to get Daddy's attention. You're damn right he'd send them to the front line if it helped his career, or his ego.

Then again, the first victim of the Anthrax attack was the National Enquirer photo editor who printed Jenna's drunk picture on the front page... Maybe Daddy cares a little.

[tanyev]

15. Does he care?

Or does he just hate it when they do things that reflect badly on him?

[NYC]

19. That's the explanation.

Not that he cares about her.

[MisterP]

16. when one of them had an appendectomy, he said something along the lines of

"she can come down here (to some southern state) or she can clean up her room"

[yellowcanine]

12. "Say it ain't so, Benito." Oh that's right, he can't. Dang those Italians.

Wasted a perfectly good dictator.

[Charlie Brown]

20. Reminds me of Reagan and Jane Wyman n/t