Lot 245
Mussolini, Benito. Autograph letter signed ("Mussolini") with postscript initialed ("M"), 3 pages, September 12, 1943. Written from Campo Imperatore Hotel, a ski resort at Campo Imperatore in Italy's Gran Sasso massif, in the Apennine Mountains, to "Dear Faiola," (his jailer), asking him to procure a pistol so that Mussolini can take his own life. Smudged at top and bottom of all three pages. Written earlier on the same day that German paratroopers would rescue him in a daring mission called Operation Eiche (German for "oak").
On the night of July 24, 1943, the Italian Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence (Ordine del Giorno Grandi) against Mussolini and the king appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio as prime minister in Mussolini's place. Mussolini was held prisoner on small islands in the Tyrrhenian sea, then moved to his Gran Sasso prison, where he was guarded by 200 Carabinieri.
Hitler personally selected Otto Skorzeny to head the rescue of Mussolini, and on September 12, in a high-risk glider mission, German commandos landed their DFS 230 gliders on the mountain and took Mussolini without firing a shot.
On April 27, 1945, partisans captured Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petucci, as they tried to escape to Switzerland. They were summarily executed and their bodies were taken to a piazza in Milan (where partisans had been hanged by the Fascists) and were hung upside down on meat hooks so that passers-by could spit on them and stone them. The message was clear to any Fascists who might think about continuing the fight.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 3,000.
Christie's New York, June 9, 2004, lot 400.
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| Realized $5,040 |
