Sullivan - My fault: Mussolini as I knew him

Enigma Books

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All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

Published in the United States by

Enigma Books

New York, NY

www.enigmabooks.com

First English-Language Edition

Copyright 2014 by Brian R. Sullivan

e-ISBN 978-1-936274-40-6

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of Enigma Books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sarfatti, Margherita, 1880-1961.

My fault : Mussolini as I knew him / Margherita Sarfatti ; edited, annotated, and with commentary by Brian R. Sullivan. 1st English language ed.

p. : ill. ; cm.

Previously published in Spanish installments in a Buenos Aires daily newspaper, 1945.Publisher.

Issued also as an ebook.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Mussolini, Benito, 1883-1945Relations with women. 2. Sarfatti, Margherita, 1880-1961Relations with men. 3. Heads of stateItalyBiography. 4. JewsItalyBiography. 5. FascismItalyHistory. 6. ItalyPolitics and government1914-1945. I. Sullivan, Brian R., 1945- II. Title.

DG575.M8 S27 2013

945/.091/092

Contents

In Memory of Phil Cannistraro

(19422005)

My Fault

1. The Origin of My Fault

After he received the news that April afternoon of 1939, Mussolini erupted in molten fury. The Sarfatti woman will write a book about me for America! the Duce exclaimed to his twenty-seven-year-old lover, Claretta Petacci. He shouted out his indignation: This is truly disgusting. Not only can she tell the truth, but she can also make things up. And me, how can I deny it? Mussolini was referring to his former lover, tutor, benefactor, and adviser for some twenty years, Margherita Sarfatti.

The Duces rage overlaid his fear. In mid-September 1938, an Italian agent in Berne informed the political police office in Rome of rumors regarding Sarfatti. Informers reported she intended to flee Italy, then publish intimate and embarrassing details of the dictators personal life. The following month, another agents message from Lausanne quoted a leading anti-Fascist professor at the local university. The professor claimed that Sarfatti had smuggled into Switzerland many important documents to substantiate such a publication. Mid-ranking officials at Rome police headquarters ordered a more thorough investigation. By the end of the year, information flowed back to Rome indicating Sarfatti planned to travel to the United States. There she would write a book describing how she had created the Mussolini known to the world. She had turned an ignorant boorish