Galeazzo Ciano
Galeazzo Ciano | |
---|---|
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 9 June 1936 – 6 February 1943 | |
Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
Preceded by | Benito Mussolini |
Succeeded by | Benito Mussolini |
Minister of Press and Propaganda | |
In office 23 June 1935 – 11 June 1936 | |
Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Dino Alfieri |
Member of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations | |
In office 23 March 1939 – 5 August 1943 | |
Appointed by | Benito Mussolini |
Personal details | |
Born | Gian Galeazzo Ciano 18 March 1903 Livorno, Tuscany, Kingdom of Italy |
Died | 11 January 1944 Verona, Veneto, Italian Social Republic | (aged 40)
Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
Political party | National Fascist Party |
Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) |
Spouse | |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) | Costanzo Ciano (father) Carolina Pini (mother) |
Profession |
|
Signature | |
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari (
He was the son of
In July 1943, Ciano was among the members of the Grand Council of Fascism that forced Mussolini's ousting and subsequent arrest. Ciano proceeded to flee to Germany but was arrested and handed over to Mussolini's new regime based in Salò, the Italian Social Republic. Mussolini ordered Ciano's death, and in January 1944 he was executed by firing squad.[3]
Ciano wrote and left behind a diary
Early life
Gian Galeazzo Ciano was born in
After studying
On 24 April 1930, when he was 27 years old, Ciano married
Political career
Minister of press and propaganda
On his return to Italy in 1935, Ciano became the minister of press and propaganda in the government of his father-in-law.[14][15] He volunteered for action in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935–36) as a bomber squadron commander. He received two silver medals of valor and reached the rank of captain. His future opponent Alessandro Pavolini served in the same squadron as a lieutenant.
Foreign minister
Upon his highly trumpeted return from the war as a "hero" in 1936, he was appointed by Mussolini as replacement
Before World War II, Mussolini may have been preparing Ciano to succeed him as Duce.[17] At the start of the war in 1939, Ciano did not agree with Mussolini's plans and knew that Italy's armed forces were ill-prepared for a major war. When Mussolini formally declared war on France in 1940, he wrote in his diary, "I am sad, very sad. The adventure begins. May God help Italy!"[18][19] Ciano became increasingly disenchanted with Nazi Germany and the course of World War II, although when the Italian regime embarked on an ill-advised "parallel war" alongside Germany, he went along, despite the terribly-executed Italian invasion of Greece and its subsequent setbacks. Prior to the German campaign in France in 1940, Ciano leaked a warning of imminent invasion to neutral Belgium.[20]
Throughout 1941 and thereafter, Ciano made derogatory and sarcastic comments about Mussolini behind his back and was surprised that these comments were reported to the Duce, who did not take them lightly; for his part, Ciano ignored well meaning friends who advised moderation.[15] On top of that, friends and acquaintances sought his protection and aid on various matters not having to do with his official position, which in turn resulted in further caustic remarks. In addition, two relatively minor incidents wounded his overblown self-importance and vanity. One was his being excluded from a projected meeting between Mussolini and Franco. The other involved him being reprimanded for a rowdy celebration of an aviator in Bari; he wrote a letter to Mussolini stating that the Duce had "opened a wound in him which can never be closed." His own self-worth seemed to cloud his judgement, forgetting that he had acquired his position by marrying Mussolini's daughter.[21]
In late 1942 and early 1943, following the Axis defeat in North Africa, other major setbacks on the Eastern Front, and with an Anglo-American assault on Sicily looming, Ciano turned against the doomed war and actively pushed for Italy's exit from the conflict. He was silenced by being removed from his post as foreign minister. The rest of the cabinet was removed as well on 5 February 1943.[22]
Ambassador to the Holy See
Ciano was offered the post of ambassador to the Holy See, and presented his credentials to Pope Pius XII on 1 March.[22] In this role he remained in Rome, watched closely by Mussolini. The regime's position had become even more unstable by the coming summer, however, and court circles were already probing the Allied commands for some sort of agreement.[19][23]
On the afternoon of 24 July 1943, Mussolini summoned the
Exile, trial and death
Ciano was dismissed from his post by the new government of Italy put in place after his father-in-law was overthrown. Ciano, Edda and their three children fled to Germany on 28 August 1943 in fear of being arrested by the new Italian government. The Germans turned him over to Mussolini's new government, the
Ciano is remembered for his Diaries 1937–1943,[27] a revealing daily record of his meetings with Mussolini, Hitler, Ribbentrop, foreign ambassadors and other political figures. Edda tried to barter his papers to the Germans in return for his life; Gestapo agents helped her confidant Emilio Pucci rescue some of them from Rome. Pucci was then a lieutenant in the Italian Air Force, but would find fame after the war as a fashion designer. When Hitler vetoed the plan, she hid the bulk of the papers at a clinic in Ramiola, near Medesano and on 9 January 1944, Pucci helped Edda escape to Switzerland with five diaries covering the war years which were then buried beneath a rose garden.[28] The diary was first published in English in London in 1946, edited by Malcolm Muggeridge, covering 1939 to 1943.[29] The complete English version was published in 2002.[4]
Children
Gian Galeazzo and Edda Ciano had three children:
- Fabrizio Ciano, 3rd Conte di Cortellazzo e Buccari (Shanghai, 1 October 1931 – San José, Costa Rica, 8 April 2008), married to Beatriz Uzcategui Jahn, without issue. Wrote a personal memoir entitled Quando il nonno fece fucilare papà (When Grandpa Had Daddy Shot).
- Raimonda Ciano (Rome, 12 December 1933 – Rome, 24 May 1998), married to Nobile Alessandro Giunta (born 1929), son of Nobile Francesco Giunta (Piero, 1887–1971) and wife (m. Rome, 1924) Zenaida del Gallo Marchesa di Roccagiovine (Rome, 1902 – São Paulo, Brazil, 1988)
- Marzio Ciano, 4th Conte di Cortellazzo e Buccari (Rome, 18 December 1937 – 11 April 1974), married Gloria Lucchesi
In popular culture
- A number of films have depicted Ciano's life, including The Verona Trial (1962) by Carlo Lizzani, where he is played by Frank Wolff and Mussolini and I (1985) in which he was played by Anthony Hopkins.
- One of the most recognisable voices in German radio and television, Sky du Mont, played Ciano in the 1983 mini-series The Winds of War, whereas in the 1989 sequel, War and Remembrance he played a different Count, Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, of the bomb plot fame.
- Raul Julia played Ciano in the 1985 television mini-series, Mussolini: The Untold Story.
- In Serbia there is a proverb: "Living like Count Ciano" – describing a flamboyant and luxurious life (Živi k'o grof Ćano/Живи к'о гроф Ћано).
- Ciano's diaries were published in 1946 and were used by the prosecution against Hitler's Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, during the post-war Nuremberg Trials.
- Curzio Malaparte - Kaputt: After he wrote Coup d'État: The Technique of Revolution, Malaparte was jailed by the Fascist regime. He was freed on the personal intervention of Count Galeazzo Ciano. In Kaputt, Malaparte refers to Count Ciano and his wife Edda. Like Edda Ciano, Malaparte spent time in forced exile on the island of Lipari.
- Count Ciano was mentioned by name in Sofia Vembo's song about Mussolini, his father in law.
References
Notes
- ISSN 2282-121X. Archived from the originalon 17 April 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- JSTOR 20565036. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ OCLC 1036749435 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b Ciano 2002.
- OCLC 22888118 – via Google Books.
- ^ Negrin, Alberto (director); Gallo, Mario (producer); Gulllioli, Emzo (producer) Haskins, Bob (actor); Hopkins, Anthony (actor); Sarandon, Susan (actor) (15 April 1985). Perpignani, Roberto; Macchi, Egisto (eds.). Mussolini and I (Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce). HBO (motion picture). Italy: Rai Uno/HBO Premier Films.
- ^ Hof 2021, p. 4, Introduction.
- ^ Hof 2021, p. 5, Introduction.
- ^ Hof 2021, p. 92, 2. The Politician.
- ^ Hof 2021, pp. 137–213, Chapter 3. The Diplomat.
- ISBN 978-0-300-07917-3
- ISBN 9788869733420.
- from the original on 24 October 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ^ Hof 2021, pp. 214–267, Chapter 4. The Successor.
- ^ ISSN 0469-2462. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Municipality of Tirana website Archived 12 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, tirana.gov.al; accessed 5 January 2016.
- ^ Gunther, John (1940) [1919]. "XVI. Who Else in Italy?". Inside Europe (PDF) (8th ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 257–258 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Ciano 2002, pp. 308–408, Chapter 3. 1939.
- ^ ISSN 1589-3839. Retrieved 27 July 2021 – via Central and Eastern European Online Library GmbH (CEEOL).
- ^ Danisi, Francisco (2018). La figura di Galeazzo Ciano e la politica estera del fascismo: Un bilancio storiografico [The figure of Galeazzo Ciano and the foreign policy of fascism: A historiographical balance] (Master's thesis) (in Italian). Rome, Italy: Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali "Guido Carli". Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Alfieri, Dino (1967) [1950]. de Caralt, Luis (ed.). Dos dictadores frente a frente (in Spanish). Barcelona: Librería Pérez Galdós - El Galeón.
- ^ a b Pope Pius XII (1 March 1943). Al nuovo Ambasciatore Straordinario e Plenipotenziario d'Italia, S.E. il Conte Galeazzo Ciano di Cortellazzo, in occasione della presentazione delle Lettere Credenziali (1° marzo 1943) [To the new Extraordinary Ambassador and Plenipotentiary of Italy His Excellence the Count Galeazzo Ciano di Cortellazzo in the occasion of his presentation of his diplomatic credentials (1° marzo 1943)] (Report). Discorsi e Radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII (Quarto anno di Pontificato, 2 marzo 1942 - 1° marzo 1943) (in Italian). Vol. IV. Vatican City: Vatican polyglot typography. pp. 405–406. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2021 – via Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
- ^ Caprioli 2012, pp. 5–6, Introduction.
- JSTOR 43527439. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ JSTOR 20565036. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Gallagher, Tony, ed. (17 April 2009). "Mussolini's daughter's affair with communist revealed in love letters". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2021..
- ^ Durgin, Paige Y. (Spring 2012). Framed in Death: The Historical Memory of Galeazzo Ciano (PDF) (Bachelor of Arts thesis). Hartford, CT: Trinity College. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Smyth & Ciano 1993, pp. 1–50.
- ^ Ciano 1947.
Bibliography
- Ciano, Galeazzo (1947) [1943]. Muggeridge, Malcolm (ed.). Ciano's Diary, 1939–1943. Translated by V. Umberto Coletti-Perucca (3rd ed.). London: William Heinemann Ltd.
- Ciano, Galeazzo (1948) [1943]. OCLC 1085348.
- Ciano, Galeazzo (2002) [1943]. Pugliese, Stanislao G.; Miller, Robert Lawrence; Gibson, Hugh (eds.). Diary 1937–1943. Translated by Miller, Robert Lawrence; Coletti-Perucca, V. Umberto (2nd ed.). New York: Enigma Books. OCLC 49545875.
- Hof, Tobias (2021). Alford, Larry P.; Yates, John (eds.). Galeazzo Ciano: The Fascist Pretender. Toronto Italian studies (1st ed.). Toronto: ISBN 9781487507985 – via Google Books.
- Ciano, Galeazzo (2000) [1946]. Gibson, Hugh (ed.). The Ciano Diaries, 1939-1943: The Complete, Unabridged Diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, 1936-1943. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 1-931313-74-1.
- Guerri, Giordano Bruno (2006) [2005]. ISBN 9788804534679.
- Ciano, Galeazzo (2010). Дневник фашиста. 1939–1943 [The diary of a fascist. 1939–1943]. Primary sources of recent history (in Russian). Moscow: Platz. p. 676. ISBN 978-5-903514-02-1.
- Moseley, Ray (18 March 2014) [2000]. Berk, Adina Popescu (ed.). Mussolini's Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano (2nd ed.). New Haven, CT: OCLC 41497106.
- OCLC 731060695 – via Google Books.
- Salter, Michael; Charlesworth, Lorie (1 March 2006). Cassese, Antonio; Dé, Urmila (eds.). "Ribbentrop and the Ciano Diaries at the Nuremberg Trial". OCLC 52158126. Archived from the originalon 3 January 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- Ciano, Fabrizio (1992) [1991]. Cimagalli, Dino; Mondadori, Leonardo (eds.). Quando il nonno fece fucilare papà [When Grandpa Had Daddy Shot] (in Italian) (5th ed.). Segrate, Italy: OCLC 797756689.
- "Galeazzo Ciano's Last Reflections before Execution." World War II Today RSS. Accessed 25 March 2015.
- "Galeazzo Ciano – a Summary – History in an Hour." History in an Hour. 10 January 2014. Accessed 25 March 2015.
- "Gian Galeazzo Ciano – Comando Supremo." Comando Supremo. 14 February 2010. Accessed 25 March 2015.
- Smyth, Howard McGaw; Ciano, Galeazzo (22 September 1993) [1969]. Smyth, Howard McGaw (ed.). The Ciano Papers: Rose Garden (PDF). CIA Historical Review Program (Center for the Study of Intelligence) (Report). Vol. 13. Langley, VA: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). pp. 1–50. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- Caprioli, Fulvia Maria (23 March 2012). Cristofanelli, Pacifico (ed.). Scritture di gerarchi fascisti: Dal personaggio alla personalità (Thesis) (in Italian). Rome, Italy: Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta (LUMSA). Retrieved 27 July 2021 – via Tesionline.
External links
- Quotations related to Galeazzo Ciano at Wikiquote
- Media related to Galeazzo Ciano at Wikimedia Commons
- Newspaper clippings about Galeazzo Ciano in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW