During the Second World War, a very close ally of Adolf Hitler was his friend Benito
Mussolini the Facist dictator of Italy.
Together the pair formed an alliance that would unite both Nazi Germany and Italy under
the Axis Alliance, with both of the armies fighting alongside each other in many significant
battles.
To the Allies, Mussolini was a figure of hatred alongside Hitler, and towards the end of the
conflict he was deposed and was ultimately executed by his own countrymen.
His body was then displayed in public hanging upside down at a service station in Milan,
and it was abused by the crowd who despised the former and deposed dictator.
Mussolini’s power within Italy was absolute for a period of time, and he became very powerful
but as time went on he did fall spectacularly from grace.
Mussolini like most politicians had a significant number of dark secrets that he tried to cover
up to ensure his reputation and legacy were not tarnished.
He did have a number of mistresses and this was well known, but to many Italians he and
his wife Rachele Guidi were a happy family, along with the 5 children that were born.
But a dark secret haunted Mussolini, and this was that he was already married, in fact he
was technically a bigamist and this secret could have ruined his political career inside
of Italy.
But the story of his first wife Ida Dalser is incredibly tragic, and her death is incredibly
suspicious, to the point where one can consider that Mussolini definitely had a role in it.
Join us today as we look at, ‘The BRUTAL Execution Of Mussolini’s First Wife,’
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Following Benito Mussolini’s march on Rome in 1922, he was appointed to the position
of Prime Minister of Italy and remained in this until he was deposed in 1943.
As a young man he was sent to a boarding school where he was noted to have been a violent
and defiant child despite being quite shy too, but he achieved good grades and then
avoided military service within Italy by moving the Switzerland.
He worked in a number of different jobs in different Swiss cities, but he could not settle
and it was this characteristic that plagued his early years.
He began to become involved in different groups and different Italian Socialist groups and
he was involved in writing speeches for them.
He worked as the Secretary of the Italian Workers Union, and organised meetings and
he even met with Lenin at some point.
Inside of Switzerland he was a troublemaker and he was then deported back to Italy before
he returned briefly however in 1909 he left Italy to take a job as a secretary in Trento
which at the time was within the Austro-Hungarian empire.
It’s not known whether Benito Mussolini met Ida Dalser whilst they were both in Trento
around 1909 or not.
Ida Dalser who would become his first wife, was born in Sopramonte a village close to
Trento and she was from a rather high profile family inside of her settlement.
Her father was the town mayor and as a young girl she was sent to Paris to study cosmetic
medicine.
But after she finished her studies she moved to Milan and she opened a French style beauty
salon in the city where a number of high profile Italian women would go to.
As mentioned it’s not known whether Ida Dalser and Mussolini met in Milan or Trento,
but he did move to the city and at some point the pair did strike up a romantic relationship.
Inside of Milan, Mussolini began and established a Socialist newspaper, and it’s believed
that whilst working in her salon, Dalser gave him money to fund his new enterprise and business.
It’s claimed that she fell so hard for him, that she even sold her beauty salon so Mussolini
could continue to work on his newspaper.
It’s believed their relationship was fast, and that the pair were married in 1914, but
Ida Dalser then quickly became pregnant.
Mussolini’s first wife gave birth to a son in 1915 named Benito Albino Mussolini after
his father.
The boy would later serve inside of the Italian Navy during the Second World War, and would
tell people of his famous father, the dictator of the country.
Little is known about the marriage of Dalser and Mussolini, but there are records that
state that the two did split up early on after their marriage and that Mussolini was not
keeping up his maintenance payments for his child, the son who bore his name.
Because of this he was taken to court, and was ordered to maintain the payments to Ida
Dalser but following Mussolini’s rise to power most of the documents relating to his
first marriage were destroyed.
It’s clear that Mussolini very quickly after the birth of his son, had married his long
term mistress Rachele Guidi, who the majority of the Italy believed was his first wife.
But there was no record of Mussolini obtaining an annulment or divorce from Ida Dalser which
meant he would have been technically a bigamist, something which could have destroyed his career
in politics living within a Catholic country.
Following Mussolini leaving her, Ida Dalser was left without her business and penniless
and was outraged with the way she had been treated by her husband.
She claimed that she had proof that in 1915, Mussolini had taken bribes from the French
government to try to influence Italy into becoming involved in the war against Austria
Hungary.
But if this came to light, then Mussolini would have been ruined and would have been
a traitor.
After he came back from war in 1917, Mussolini began to take a more active role in Politics
and he began to work on establishing and forming the National Fascist Party, and in the same
year he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies.
But after his march from Rome and seizure of power, there was a worry in his mind about
his first marriage.
He could not be seen as a bigamist and this would have been very damaging to his deputation,
and also he could not be seen as a deadbeat father who did not care or pay for his first
child.
Once he came into power, he ordered that Ida Dalser and her son were kept under close watch
and surveillance by the facist police forces.
Any paper evidence or trail that related to his first marriage and son was destroyed by
government officials and agents.
Ida Dalser though would not remain silent, she continued to feel cheated by her husband,
who now had control of the whole of Italy in his dictatorship.
She was furious that her husband who was now incredibly famous and wealthy had thrown her
aside and was continuously denying her existence and refusing to acknowledge his son.
Dalser continued to maintain her position as the dictators wife and she even in public
claimed that he was a traitor, and Mussolini became aware of these rumours and dissent.
She continued to maintain her position saying he had accepted a bribe from the French government,
but Mussolini then had enough of his first wife.
He forced his son to change his surname to Bernardi and then placed his son into a number
of boarding schools and he was taken away from his mother.
Mussolini had the secret police arrest and abduct his first wife.
Ida Dalser whilst held in custody was beaten badly and was then forced to wear a straitjacket
after she was declared insane.
Following this she was then committed into an asylum against her wishes, but there was
nothing really wrong with her.
She just was telling the truth about her husband Mussolini, the dictator of Italy who was a
bigamist, a terrible father and who was not what the Italian public saw.
Records relating to Ida Dalser are incredibly hard to find as most were destroyed, but in
1937, a few years before the Second World War broke out it was said that ‘Dalser died
of a brain hemorrage at the age of 57.
Now we can only speculate as to whether she actually died of this, or if there was some
underhand means that occurred in relation to her death.
It could be possible to reach the conclusion that Mussolini who was at the pinnacle of
his power ordered his first wife to be killed by members of staff in the psychiatric hospital.
This would in a sense be an execution as it was the arranged killing of an individual,
and the fact she was incarcerated inside of the hospital was almost like a death sentence
as whilst Mussolini was in power there was no chance of her getting out of hospital too.
Also Mussolini it can be considered was involved in the killing of Dalser’s son, the child
that was named after its father, Benito Mussolini Junior.
His son was allegedly killed on the 26th August 1942 either being killed via a number of lethal
injections which intended to induce a coma, or through electric shock therapy.
For Mussolini both his first wife and first son were a constant danger, and the fact he
also was kept under close surveillance and imprisoned inside an asylum where he died
was rather suspicious.
Ida Dalser, Benito Mussolini’s first wife had a miserable life following her meeting
and falling in love with the future dictator of Italy.
She would lose her beauty salon to fund his business ventures, and would recieve no thanks
or gratitude for doing this.
She played a pivotal role in his work inside Milan before the First World War, but was
met with condemnation and ill treatment after Mussolini came into power.
Her being imprisoned inside of an asylum at the behest of her husband can be seen as the
Dictator of Italy condemning her, and it’s interesting to read that all accounts of her
death label the words ‘brain hemorrage’ with some form of suspicion.
Whatever the case, meeting Mussolini was the worst thing that happened to Ida Dalser as
before she did she had a prosperous business in the thriving Milan.
She died a woman with nothing, except the fact she knew the truth, the truth which would
lead to her death.
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