Benito Mussolini’s execution and subsequent treatment of his remains inside of a square
in Milan at the end of the Second World War shocked the world.
The former fascist dictator of Italy had been shot by a roadside near Lake Como, and his
remains along with his mistress Clara Petacci were dumped in the square in front of a crowd
of dozens of thousands.
But when the Americans arrived the remains of Mussolini were unrecognisable, and they
were then taken to the mortuary for autopsy.
It was found that Mussolini had been shot 7 or 9 times, but there was a huge impact
in Germany regarding Mussolini’s execution.
Hitler was deep underground inside of his bunker in Berlin, and he heard about how Mussolini’s
remains were treated, along with his mistress and he then realised that he did not want
to be treated in this way following the defeat of Nazi Germany, and the Dictator of Germany
then made arrangements for his death.
However Mussolini’s remains were later stolen, and almost as soon as they were interred in
an unmarked grave, Mussolini’s body was taken and was hidden, before it was then buried
12 years later.
Join us today as we look at the exhumation and theft of Mussolini’s body.
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Benito Mussolini had fled his position as the head of the Italian Socialist Republic
in the north of Italy, a Nazi Puppet State.
Peace negotiations between Mussolini and the Italian partisans had been unsuccessful, and
he then along with Clara Petacci his mistress went on the run to try and cross the Swiss
border.
He attempted to cross a number of times but was unsuccessful, but on the 27th April 1945
he joined a Luftwaffe convoy which was travelling towards Germany.
If he made it Hitler would have given him sanctuary, however then the convoy was attacked
near to the village of Dongo, and there were a number of other facists on the convoy, but
then Mussolini was spotted.
His demeanour was described as, ‘His face was like wax and his stare glassy, but somehow
blind.
I read utter exhaustion, but not fear ... Mussolini seemed completely lacking in will, spiritually
dead.’
Mussolini was then taken captive, and it was clear what would happen next.
The Partisans had declared that any prominent facsist would be executed, and be sentenced
to death, and Radio Milano said the following statement announcing his capture, ‘The head
of this association of delinquents, Mussolini, while yellow with rancour and fear and trying
to cross the Swiss frontier, has been arrested.
He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly.
We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honour for this
man.
He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.’
Walter Audisio the following day was dispatched to be the executioner and to pick up Mussolini
and Petacci, and he was led to a farmhouse where they had been kept in secret.
The pair were then taken in a truck to the entrance of the Villa Belmonte, and they were
told to get out,
before Walter Audisio took a machine gun, and fired into Mussolini and Petacci, killing
them instantly.
Some reports claim that Mussolini’s final words were ‘aim at my heart,’ and that
he was crying before he met his death.
But then Mussolini would be then taken to Milan where his executed remains were displayed
in front of a huge crowd.
His remains were a harrowing reminder of his fall from grace, and the bodies of the former
dictator, his mistress and other facsists were then dumped on the ground in the Piazzale
Loreto.
This was a place where a number of partisans had been executed, and after the remains were
dumped, the crowd turned against the former dictator.
Mussolini was the man in Italy who was considered the most powerful for decades before he was
ousted from power by his own government, and by a council of powerful figures.
But he was now lying dead in the square, and the public urinated, spat on, kicked, threw
vegetables and punched his remains.
His face was heavily disfigured, and the crowd were incredibly angry.
His body was then strung up from a half built service station there.
The bodies were strung upside down, as an act of disgrace, but then the Allies arrived
and ordered the remains to be cut down, with the Americans saying that they were to be
taken to a local mortuary to be autopsied.
At 2pm on the 29th April the American authorities took possession of the bodies and took them
to a morgue, where they were then autopsied.
On the following day, Mussolini’s autopsy was performed and it was said that 7 or 9
bullets had killed the former dictator, and that four bullets near to the heart were the
cause of death.
Part of his brain was then sent to American to be studied, but no autopsy was performed
on his mistress.
But in the time whilst Mussolini was lying inside of a mortuary, Adolf Hitler was informed
about the execution of his former friend, and he then dictated his Last Will and Testament,
and he greatly feared his remains being made a spectacle of.
He would arrange for his remains to be burned with petrol inside the Reich Chancellery Garden,
and Mussolini’s fate was the deciding factor in Hitler’s decision to take his own life
inside of his bunker.
It was said, ‘If he did learn of the full gory tale, it could have done no more than
confirm his anxiety to take his own life before it was too late, and to prevent his body from
being seized by his enemies.’
But following the display of his corpse and the autopsy, the task then came to bury the
dictator of Italy.
Mussolini’s remains were taken to the Musocco cemetery in the north of Milan, and he was
buried hastily inside of an unmarked grave, but it’s believed that this was not a secret.
He was buried inside of a wooden coffin with little celebration.
However Mussolini would be disturbed a short time after.
There were many people at the time who remained fascist and for them Mussolini was a god like
figure, and his body was something that needed venerating.
With this, on the evening of the first anniversary of Italy’s liberation from Nazi forces,
a young right wing journalist along with two of his friends decided to exhume Mussolini
and his body.
Domenico Leccisi would later become a parliamentary deputy for the neo-facsist Italian Social
Movement, but his most notorious act was to steal the remains of the former dictator.
He and his two helpers snuck into the Musocco cemetery, and they then broke the ground.
Mussolini’s remains had been in the ground a number of months, and the coffin was then
placed onto a truck and it was driven quickly away.
Leccisi inside of the tomb left a note that said, ‘Finally, O Duce you are with us.
We will cover you with roses, but the smell of your virtue will overpower those roses.’
It was clear that it was former facsists that had stolen his body and remains, but now the
authorities tried to find out where they were and who had stolen them.
Italy was filled with fascists at the time, and many members of the clergy including monks
were sympathetic to Mussolini’s cause, and Leccisi and his two helpers decided to hide
Mussolini’s remains inside of a church.
They took it initially to a number of different places, and it moved around to ensure that
the authorities could not easily track it.
It was hidden inside of a villa, but then Leccisi handed it over to a number of monks
who hid it inside different churches and monasteries.
However then information came forward about a coffin being taken into the Certosa Di Pavia,
which was a monastery relatively close to Milan.
When they entered the monastic buildings, they came across the body of Mussolini, but
strangely one of the legs of the dictator had gone missing, meaning someone had taken
it, to possibly venerate this if his body was stolen.
Following this, two friars were then arrested and were charged with helping Leccisi hide
the body.
But then the task of what to do with Mussolini’s remains was debated, but the authorities for
some reason believed that the best thing to do would be to continue to hide it.
It was then taken to a Capuchin monastery in the town of Kerri Maggiore, and it stayed
there for 11 years, actually locked inside of a cupboard.
This was highly secretive, and Mussolini’s family did not even know what happened to
it.
They wanted the former Dictator’s remains back inside of their family crypt, but the
Italian government continued to appease them and to claim they did not know where it was.
But then following the appointment of Prime Minister Adone Zoli, Mussolini’s remains
were then given to his family, and it was agreed that he would be reinterred at the
place of his birth, in Predappio in Romagna.
It was slightly underhand, as the Prime Minister knew Mussolini’s widow, and he also needed
the support of the far right.
On the 1st September 1957, what was left of Benito Mussolini was reinterred in a large
tomb at the family crypt, and around his tomb are relics related to his life, and each year
on the anniversary of his death there are a huge series of fascist marches to commemorate
his death.
But it is bizarre to think that a man who during the Second World War was so closely
linked to Hitler is still commemorated today, and thousands each year flock to see his tomb
and remains.
It’s possible that the story of his execution and subsequent posthumous display has given
him a sense of notoriety and intrigue.
But these people who march and use his tomb as a place of pilgrimage are people who support
his political ideas.
However Mussolini’s remains following his execution went on a strange journey, with
them being stolen and hidden for over a decade.
But he is not buried completely, as his leg is still missing.
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