Il Duce!
When I was in Sicily some weeks ago the amount of Mussolini kitsch unabashedly on sale with souvenir and street vendors surprised me. I guess it goes to tell that Italians are more at ease about him as a historical and - today completely irrelevant as far as his fascist legacy goes -figure than Germans will ever be about Hitler whose nasty shaming shadow still sometimes looms large.
On the Richter scale of evil, I cannot see Mussolini anywhere near Hitler. He wasn't a warmonger like him (in fact, Mussolini was very concerned about Hitler's military recklessness and Italy always preferred to choose war opponents it perceived as weak either because they were Third World or already in their death throes from a German invasion, never mind that even these weakened foes would regularly teach the Italian Army a few lessons!
) and while Fascist Italy had its share of crimes against humanity it did not join in that relentless will for genocide Nazi Germany so openly flaunted and lived.
Early Hitler patterned himself after Mussolini (who was already a dictator with a ten year reign when Hitler came to power in 1933) and admired Italian Fascism, but by the advent of WW II (which Mussolini tried to avoid, lucidly fearing that little good would come out of it for Italy) Mussolini saw himself sidelined and a bystander to Germany's war strategy. As the war progressed, Italy became bullied by Germany more and more, it was fitting that the once proud Mussolini would end as the beaten head of a North Italian Nazi puppet regime after Hitler had him liberated by the SS in one last act of solidarity or even friendship between the two.
People tend to forget that unlike Germany which surrendered unconditionally with all Nazi party organisations being forbidden by the Allies shortly after, in Italy it was actually the Fascist Council that had Mussolini removed from power as the Allies were advancing in 1943 to then hold and successfully conclude peace talks with them. Left with the choice of saving their country or the dictator, the Italians, even the Fascists, did the sensible, pragmatic and patriotic thing and discarded Mussolini. It's one thing that Germany was never able to do (shake off the dictator when it was time) even though it was well clear to the majority of the German population that the war was lost by 1943 at the latest. The Italians still have my historic envy for that (and for the indignated and formal refusal of the Italian Army to raid Jewish homes in Greece and take arrests when asked for such help by the German co-occupators). The Allies returned the favor: The Italian fascist party was never officially forbidden (and its successor party is today a member of Berlusconi's conservative coalition though it is fair to say that they have shed most of their historic baggage).
I guess that is part of the reason why it is still possible in Italy to remember Mussolini for the introduction of free schooling to children and the eradication of malaria (he let the swamps be dried out) and not just for the vile parts of his regime.
I don't think he had much of a brain though. More led by instinct throughout his career, with his political decisions being more and more forced on him by the circumstances once the moustached Sorcerer's Apprentice had learned his tricks in Germany. His politically active granddaughter, btw, is a nut case/fake blond bimbo airhead.
Uwe
