Fernando Mezzasoma
Fernando Mezzasoma | |
---|---|
Minister of Popular Culture of the Italian Social Republic | |
In office 23 September 1943 – 25 April 1945 | |
Preceded by | office created |
Succeeded by | office abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Rome, Kingdom of Italy | 3 August 1907
Died | 28 April 1945 Dongo, Italy | (aged 37)
Political party | National Fascist Party Republican Fascist Party |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Kingdom of Italy |
Branch/service | Royal Italian Army |
Unit | 7th Artillery Regiment |
Battles/wars | |
Awards | |
Fernando Mezzasoma (3 August 1907 – 28 April 1945), also referred to as Ferdinando, was an Italian fascist journalist and political figure. He was deputy national secretary of the National Fascist Party and Minister of Popular Culture of the Italian Social Republic.
Biography
Mezzasoma was born in Rome, the son of middle-class Perugians; from his late teens he showed himself to be a passionate supporter of Benito Mussolini.
Mezzasoma had to contribute to his impoverished family's income from early on, and took several jobs before finishing studies in
The following year, Mezzasoma was appointed one of the local PNF leaders in Perugia (holding the position until 1935). He began writing for official magazines, such as Dottrina Fascista and Roma Fascista, usually under the pen name
A national deputy-secretary of the GUF in 1935, he was included to the leadership group of the PNF in January 1937, and became its deputy national secretary on February 23, 1939. When Italy entered
With the foundation of the Nazi Germany-assisted Italian Social Republic, he was appointed Mussolini's Minister of Popular Culture, and held this post until the Republic collapsed less than two years later.
He clashed with Junio Valerio Borghese and, on 19 April 1945 left for Milan, parting with his collaborators (including Giorgio Almirante). It seems that he had the opportunity to flee the region following Germany's defeat, but would have refused, saying: "I am a minister of Mussolini, I shall die with him".[citation needed]
Along with other fascist leaders and officials, at the end of the war he was captured near
External links
- Carli, Maddalena (2010). "MEZZASOMA, Fernando". ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.