Evening star., 1943-09-16
MussoIini MYSTERY

MuSSoItnt Mystery
The old adage that truth is
stranger than fiction is again exem-
plified in the prolonged mystery
which shrouds the fate of Mpssolini.
No Oppenheim thriller is more
sensational than the chain of events
which began on the morning of
July Is, when the Debated Duce
went to see King Victor Emmanuel
and tender his resignation as head
of the Italian state. After what is
reported to have been a stormy
interview, the little King made a
signal, a group of armed generals
burst into the room, and Mussolini
left the Royal Palace a prisoner,
bound for an undisclosed destina-
ton.
That, at least, is one of several
melodramatic versions with which
we have been regaled from various
sources, the broad Emergencies in
dicating that these accounts stem
from hearsay rather than from first
hand knowledge. This in itself is
surprising, because there must have
been a considerable number of eye
witnesses to the actual events. The
Royal Palace in Rome Is hardly a
place OF seclusion, and Italians are
apt to be garrulous. Yet no one
Immediately concerned seems to
have talked.
Still more amazing is the way the
secret of Mussolinis subsequent
movements has been kept. Leading
members of the Badoglio govern
ment, police officials, soldiers and
others must have had either full or
partial knowledge of what went on.
But here again we have a wide va
riety of rumors putting the Duce in
all sorts of confinement places, rang
ing from Rome itself to islands and
mountain tops-that being the latest
locality given by a German propa-
ganda story as the spot where he was
allegedly rescued by Gestapo agents,
s. S. men and paratroopers. DR..
Goebbels' publicity machine has
been busily grinding out reports OF
his rescue and what followed, but
even these do not always dovetail.
When those first inspired reports
came out of Berlin, the Allied. and
neutral world displayed a healthy
skepticism. Since then, London ap-
pears to be reluctantly accepting the
fact of Mussolini's liberation as true.
A shadow government is certainly
being set up in his name, and vigor-
Gus attempts are being made to
rally the dispersed Fascist oligarchy
to serve under the German occupa-
ton forces in such parts of Italy as
are under their military occupation
or control Yet the orders and de-
crees of this regime, though issued
in II Duce's name, are never publicly
attested by his personality. Why
has Mussolini's voice not come over
the radio? Why has he made no
official appearance? The advantage
of such simple acts would seem to
be self-evident, but they have not
been done.
What is the explanation of this
continuing mystery? Is Mussolini
dead? Is he desperately Ill? Is he
violently insane? Have DR.. Goebbels
and Adolf Hitler cooked up gigan-
tic hoax, prepared under the
Fuehrer's well-known recipe that If
lie is big enough and stated with
sufficient brazenness, it will be be-
lieved?
Meanwhile, the Germans are trad
ing on Mussolini's name with some
success. The Fascist Old Guard was
so compromised in the eyes of the
Italian people that It's members had
little to hope for after the collapse
Of their system from which they
had derived power and wealth at the
expense of their fellow citizens.
Such men can be expected to serve
foreign masters as selfishly and as
unscrupulously as they did their
party bosses when Fascism ruled
Italy. Mussolinis name will be a
useful rallying standard in any
event. Whether it be more than a
name, time alone can disclose.