Indro Montanelli: Difference between revisions
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'''Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli''' <small>[[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic|Knight Grand Cross OMRI]]</small> ({{IPA-it|ˈindro montaˈnɛlli}}; 22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist and historian. |
'''Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli''' <small>[[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic|Knight Grand Cross OMRI]]</small> ({{IPA-it|ˈindro montaˈnɛlli}}; 22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist and historian. |
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He was among the 50 [[World Press Freedom Heroes]] of the previous 50 years named by the [[International Press Institute]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freemedia.at/awards/world-press-freedom-heroes/ |title=World Press Freedom Heroes: Symbols of courage in global journalism |year=2012 |publisher=[[International Press Institute]] |accessdate=26 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116082802/http://www.freemedia.at/awards/world-press-freedom-heroes |archivedate=16 January 2012 }}</ref> He distinguished himself for his original approach to writing history in books such as ''History of the Greeks'' and ''History of Rome''. |
He was among the 50 [[World Press Freedom Heroes]] of the previous 50 years named by the [[International Press Institute]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freemedia.at/awards/world-press-freedom-heroes/ |title=World Press Freedom Heroes: Symbols of courage in global journalism |year=2012 |publisher=[[International Press Institute]] |accessdate=26 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116082802/http://www.freemedia.at/awards/world-press-freedom-heroes |archivedate=16 January 2012 }}</ref> He distinguished himself for his original approach to writing history in books such as ''History of the Greeks'' and ''History of Rome''. At the age of 26 year old, when he was in [[Italian Ethiopia]] (former Abyssinia), he bought a 12 year old female child, that he married and in different interviews he called her 'a small animal'. While working as a journalist for the fascist magazine "Civiltà Fascista" expressed fascist ideas, declaring the superiority of the white race.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_2xZWu_Ak8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bufale.net/precisazioni-indro-montanelli-e-lacquisto-di-una-moglie-12enne-in-abissinia-era-un-bel-animalino/|publisher=[[Redazione Bufale.net]]}}</ref> |
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Only in 1943, at the end of the war, he decided to join an anti fascist group, Giustizia e Libertà, but he was discovered by the nazi-fascists and on the 5 February 1944 Indro Montanelli and his wife were arrested, but thanks to his many connections he wasn't executed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53042350|publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> |
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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== Controversies == |
== Controversies == |
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In June 2020, a statue |
In June 2020, a statue in Milan celebrating Indro Montanelli was vandalised, during the worldwide protests for racial equality, part of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was painted red and tagged with the words "racist, rapist" <ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=14 June 2020|title=Statue of famous Italian journalist defaced in Milan|work=Al Jazeera|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/statue-famous-italian-journalist-defaced-milan-200614183625275.html|url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=14 June 2020|title=Indro Montanelli: Statue of controversial journalist defaced in Milan|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53042350|url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=14 June 2020|title=Milan mayor refuses to remove defaced statue of Italian journalist|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/14/milan-mayor-refuses-remove-defaced-statue-italian-journalist-black-lives-matter|url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref>. This was done to highlight one hidden element of Montanelli's past, and voice anger that a statue, erected only after his death in 2001, still celebrated the man. Montanelli free acknowledged having had a sexual relationship with a 12 year old child whilst he was stationed in Abyssinia, a practice condemned even by Mussolini's fascist regime. In a talk show interview in 1969, Montanelli told the reporter of his child-bride, “I think I chose well. She was a beautiful girl of 12 years,” adding a with a smile: “Excuse me. But in Africa it was another thing.” <ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=14 June 2020|title=Milan mayor refuses to remove defaced statue of Italian journalist|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/14/milan-mayor-refuses-remove-defaced-statue-italian-journalist-black-lives-matter|url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref> On his departure from Abyssinia, Montanelli sold Destà to be the wife of one of his soldiers. |
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In 1972, during the television program ''L'ora della truth'' by [[Gianni Bisiach]] , Indro Montanelli again |
In 1972, during the television program ''L'ora della truth'' by [[Gianni Bisiach]] , Indro Montanelli again proudly told of his experience in Abyssinia during which he " married" a little girl aged 12 years. The practice of the [[:it:Madamato|madamato]] (the marriage referred to by Montanelli in the interview) was common place, a ''more uxorio'' temporary relationship of Italian citizens with local women, often girls between 8 and 12 years old, in the then Italian colonies. Montanelli free acknowledged his actions, fondly recalling how "my non-commissioned officer bought her for me, along with a horse and a rifle, 500 lire in all. [...]. She was like a docile animal...". Montanelli free acknowledged how the little child, named Destà was purchased to act as his sex slave, detailing how "I needed a woman at that age... I struggled a lot to overcome her smell, due to the goat tallow with which her hair was soaked". He then went on to complain how he struggled "even more to accomplish a sexual relationship with her because she was [[Infibulate|infibulated]] since birth: which, in addition to opposing my desires with an almost insurmountable barrier (it needed the brutal intervention of her mother to demolish it), made her completely insensitive"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Deaglio|first=Enrico|title=Homeland 1978-2010 (p. 335)|publisher=Il Saggiatore|year=2010|isbn=978-88-565-0213-8|location=|pages=}}</ref>. During the interview, his account was interrupted by a question from a woman present in the studio, the feminist, writer and journalist [[Elvira Banotti]] , who asked him how he could justify his marriage to a child, since marriage in Europe to a 12-year-old girl is considered abhorrent, rape and violence. Montanelli replied that "in Abyssinia it works like this"<ref>{{Cite news|last=Teggi|first=Annalisa|date=16 August 2018|title="Did you, Mr. Montanelli, rape a 12-year-old girl?" asked Elvira Banotti|work=Aleteia|url=https://it.aleteia.org/2018/08/16/indro-montanelli-elvira-banotti-violenza-bimba-12-anni-africa/|url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref>. The discussion between the two journalists continued until the broadcast ended<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Quando Montanelli comprò e violentò una bambina di 12 anni - Interview on YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_2xZWu_Ak8&feature=youtu.be|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=YouTube}}</ref>. |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 16:00, 16 June 2020
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Indro Montanelli | |
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World Press Freedom Heroes |
Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli Knight Grand Cross OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [ˈindro montaˈnɛlli]; 22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist and historian.
He was among the 50
Biography
Early life
Indro Montanelli was born at Fucecchio, near Florence.
Throughout his career he retained an idiosyncratic and particularly undiplomatic style, even when this made him very unpopular among his peers and employers. This is well illustrated in his book La stecca nel coro (which translates as "The false note in the chorus" with the meaning of "Going against the current") which is a list of leading articles he composed between 1974 and 1994 in the newspaper Il Giornale which he founded and directed after being sacked from the prestigious Corriere della Sera, in October 1973. It was during this experience, in 1977 that the Red Brigade shot him four times in the legs in the streets of Milan.
Early journalist career
Montanelli's career began with a Law degree from the University of Florence in the early 1920s, where he wrote a thesis on the electoral reform of Benito Mussolini's fascism. Allegedly, in this thesis, he maintained that rather than a reform it amounted to the abolition of elections, which goes some way to illustrate the ambiguous nature of the Italian fascist censorship. According to him, it was a short experience of the French cultural atmosphere in Grenoble, while he was taking language lessons, that he realised that his true vocation was that of the journalist.
Montanelli began his journalistic career by writing for the fascist newspaper Il Selvaggio ("The Savage"), then directed by Mino Maccari, and in 1932 for the Universale, a magazine published only once fortnightly and which offered no pay. Montanelli admitted that in those days he saw in fascism the hope of a movement that could potentially create an Italian national conscience that would have resolved the economic and socioeconomic differences between the north and the south. This enthusiasm for the fascist movement began to wane when in 1935 Mussolini forced the abolition of the Universale along with other magazines and newspapers that expressed opinions on the nature of fascism.
But it was in 1934, in Paris that Montanelli began to write for the crime pages of the daily newspaper
From there he began a collaboration with
Reporter in Abyssinia
When Mussolini invaded
Montanelli later blamed his enthusiastic attitude to facisim in Abyssinia on his passion for the works of
Montanelli began writing about the war to his father who – without Montanelli's knowledge – sent the letters to one of the most famous journalists of those times, Ugo Ojetti, who published them regularly on the most prestigious Italian newspaper: Il Corriere della Sera.
Reporter during Spanish Civil War
On his return from Abyssinia, Montanelli became foreign correspondent in Spain for the daily newspaper Il Messaggero, where he experienced the
Reportages from Eastern and Northern Europe
The position taken against fascism led him to first serious disagreements. He was taken off the ticket of the Party and he did nothing to get it back. So to avoid the worst, in 1938, the then minister of culture, Giuseppe Bottai, offered Montanelli the job of director of the Institute of Culture in Tallinn, Estonia, and lecturer in Italian at the University of Tartu. In this period the then director of the Corriere della Sera, Aldo Borelli, asked Montanelli to engage in a 'collaboration' as foreign correspondent (he could not be employed as journalist, because this had been forbidden by the fascist regime). Montanelli began to correspond for this newspaper from Estonia and Albania (during the Italian annexation of this country).
On 1 September 1939 Germany
Montanelli was not welcome in Italy, and decided to move to Lithuania. The joint German-Russian invasion of Poland instinctively told him that more was brewing on the Soviet Union border. His instinct was correct because shortly after his arrival in Kaunas – the seat of Lithuanian government – the Soviet Union declared an Ultimatum to the Baltic Republics. At this point Montanelli continued to travel towards Tallinn as it was his wish to see the last of a free and democratic Estonia, which was soon invaded by Soviet Union. At this point, Montanelli was not popular in Italy, nor Germany because of his pro-Estonian and pro-Polish articles and had been expelled by the Soviet Union for being a foreigner. So he was forced by the events to cross the Baltic sea and reach Helsinki.
In Finland Montanelli began writing articles about the Lapps and the reindeer, although this was not for long as Molotov had made requests on the Finnish government for the annexation of part of the Finnish land to the Soviet Union. The Finnish delegation, headed by Paasikivi, had refused to give in to these requests and on their return it was clear that war was in the air. Montanelli was not able to write about the details of the talks between the Soviet and Finnish delegations, as they were shrouded in strict secrecy, although he was able to interview Paasikivi, who was happy to fill him in on everything except for the content of the talks.
Throughout the so-called
Invasion of Norway
Before his return to Italy Montanelli witnessed the invasion of Norway, and was arrested by the German army for his hostility towards the German-Italian alliance. He escaped with the help of his friend Vidkun Quisling, and made a run for the north of the country where the English and the French were disembarking their troops at Narvik. He was met by the one-eyed, one-armed Major Carton de Wiart who explained that there were no more than 10,000 Allied troops in Norway – many of them not even trained for battle. Nobody seemed to know where their garrison was. The British wanted to go inland and attack the Germans, but the French wanted to stay put and consolidate their positions. After having seen the clockwork invasion of Poland by the German troops, this disarray was a worrying sight. When the Germans began bombing these positions the Allies were forced to embark once again and beat a hasty withdrawal to England.
The Balkans and Greece
With Italy's entrance in the war (June 1940), Montanelli was sent to France and the Balkans; then he was assigned the responsibility of following the Italian military campaign from Greece and Albania as correspondent. Here he recounted to have written little:
I remained at that front various months, writing almost nothing, a small reason was because I fell ill with typhus and a huge one because I refused to push as a glorious military campaign the quaking pummeling that we caught down there.[10]
An article published on 12 September 1940 issue of Panorama was considered "defeatist" by the censors of Minculpop (Ministero della Cultura Popolare), who in turn ordered the closure of the periodical.
Condemned to death
After witnessing war and destruction in the Balkans, and the disastrous
He was eventually once again captured by the Germans, tried and condemned to death. In the Milan prison of San Vittore he met with
Salvation came at the end of 1944 with the help of unknown conspirators who arranged for his transfer to a prison in Verona. The transfer was then transformed into a dash for the Swiss border. The identity of these conspirators remained a mystery until decades later, when it appeared that it had been the result of collusion by several agencies. Among them, Marshall Mannerheim allegedly put pressure on his German allies ("You are executing a gentleman" he said to von Falkenhorst, the commander of the German troops stationed in Finland) resulting in Berlin's opening of an inquiry.
In 1945 while hiding in Switzerland, he published the novel Drei Kreuze (Three Crosses), later appeared in Italian with the title Qui non-riposano (Here they do not rest). Inspired by Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, the story begins on 17 September 1944 when a Val d'Ossola priest buries three unknown corpses and commemorates them with three anonymous crosses.
Later career and writings
Montanelli continued his career at the
After subsequently breaking definitely with Corriere della Sera he founded and directed the Milan daily Il Giornale in 1973, together with Enzo Bettiza.
On 2 September 1977, Montanelli was shot four times in the legs by a two-man commando of the
Quarrel with Berlusconi and final years
When Silvio Berlusconi, the then proprietor of Il Giornale, entered politics and founded a new personalistic party Forza Italia, Montanelli came under heavy pressure to switch his editorial line to a position favourable to Berlusconi. Montanelli never hid his bad opinion of Berlusconi: "He lies as he breathes", the journalist declared. In the end, protesting his independence, he founded a new daily, for which he resurrected the name La Voce ("The Voice"), which had belonged to an historical newspaper run by Giuseppe Prezzolini. La Voce, always an elitist paper, folded after about a year, and Montanelli returned to Corriere della Sera. In 1994, Montanelli was awarded the International Editor of the Year Award from the World Press Review.
From 1995 to 2001 he was the chief letters editor of Corriere della Sera, answering a letter a day on a page of the newspaper known as "La Stanza di Montanelli" ("Montanelli's Room"). Montanelli spent his last years vigorously opposing Silvio Berlusconi's politics. He was mentor to a significant group of colleagues, followers and students including Mario Cervi, Marco Travaglio, Paolo Mieli, Roberto Ridolfi, Andrea Claudio Galluzzo, Beppe Severgnini and Roberto Gervaso.
He died on 22 July 2001 at the La Madonnina clinic in Milan. The following day, Corriere della Sera published a letter on its front page: "Indro Montanelli's farewell to his readers".
Awards and decorations
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Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic – awarded on 15 December 1995[11] |
Commander, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland
Controversies
In June 2020, a statue in Milan celebrating Indro Montanelli was vandalised, during the worldwide protests for racial equality, part of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was painted red and tagged with the words "racist, rapist" [12][13][14]. This was done to highlight one hidden element of Montanelli's past, and voice anger that a statue, erected only after his death in 2001, still celebrated the man. Montanelli free acknowledged having had a sexual relationship with a 12 year old child whilst he was stationed in Abyssinia, a practice condemned even by Mussolini's fascist regime. In a talk show interview in 1969, Montanelli told the reporter of his child-bride, “I think I chose well. She was a beautiful girl of 12 years,” adding a with a smile: “Excuse me. But in Africa it was another thing.” [15] On his departure from Abyssinia, Montanelli sold Destà to be the wife of one of his soldiers.
In 1972, during the television program L'ora della truth by
References
- ^ Daniele Abbiati (6 February 2010). "La Treccani riparte ma scivola su "Cilindro" Montanelli". il Giornale.
- ^ "World Press Freedom Heroes: Symbols of courage in global journalism". International Press Institute. 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_2xZWu_Ak8.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ . Redazione Bufale.net https://www.bufale.net/precisazioni-indro-montanelli-e-lacquisto-di-una-moglie-12enne-in-abissinia-era-un-bel-animalino/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ . BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53042350.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Montanelli, Indro". 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ "Indro Montanelli (1909–)". 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ Teggi, Annalisa (16 August 2018). ""Did you, Mr. Montanelli, rape a 12-year-old girl?" asked Elvira Banotti". Aleteia. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Statue of famous Italian journalist defaced in Milan". Al Jazeera. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Abate, Tiziana; Montanelli, Indro, Soltanto un giornalista [Only a Journalist].
- ^ "Presidential Awards". Quirinal Palace. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
- ^ "Statue of famous Italian journalist defaced in Milan". Al Jazeera. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Indro Montanelli: Statue of controversial journalist defaced in Milan". BBC News. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Milan mayor refuses to remove defaced statue of Italian journalist". The Guardian. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Milan mayor refuses to remove defaced statue of Italian journalist". The Guardian. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ISBN 978-88-565-0213-8.
- ^ Teggi, Annalisa (16 August 2018). ""Did you, Mr. Montanelli, rape a 12-year-old girl?" asked Elvira Banotti". Aleteia. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Quando Montanelli comprò e violentò una bambina di 12 anni - Interview on YouTube". YouTube.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
External links
Quotations related to Indro Montanelli at Wikiquote
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