February 6 In History: Benito Mussolini Sacked His Son-in-law From The Seat Of Italian Foreign Minister

Count Galeazzo Ciano (Sumber: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Alert to the increasing antiwar attitude, on February 6, 1943, the Italian Prime Minister (PM), also known as the Leader of the National Fascist Party Benito Mussolini, removed Count Galeazzo Ciano. None other than, he is his son-in-law who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy. Mussolini then took over the task himself.

To quote History, Saturday, February 6, Ciano was fiercely loyal to the fascist struggle from the very beginning, having taken part in a march in Rome in 1922, which marked the Black Shirt's rise to power in Italy. He graduated from the University of Rome with a degree in law and then worked as a journalist.

Soon after that he began a career in the Italian diplomatic corps, working as a consultant general in China. He married Mussolini's daughter, Edda, in 1930. From there, they quickly ascended the political ladder. From the head of the press bureau to the members of the Supreme Fascist Council, Mussolini's inner circle of advisers.

Ciano carried out bomb attacks on Ethiopia in 1935-1936 and was appointed Foreign Minister upon his return to Rome. Both because of his experience in foreign affairs and his personal relationship with Mussolini, Ciano became Mussolini's right hand man and was likely to be his successor. It was Ciano who promoted Italy's alliance with Germany, even though Mussolini insulted Hitler.

At that time, Ciano began to suspect the Fuhrer's allegiance to the Pact of Steel - a term Mussolini used to describe the alliance between Germany and Italy - when Germany invaded Poland without consulting its axis partners. However, there was a conflicting agreement between Ciano and his German counterpart, Joachim von Ribbentrop.

Despite his concerns about German loyalty, Ciano felt that Italy would benefit well from an alliance with the "victorious side," so when France fell to German hands, Ciano encouraged Italy's participation in the war against the Allies.

After humiliating defeats in Greece and North Africa, Ciano began to debate a peace deal with the Allies. Mussolini considered him defeated, then dismissed him as foreign minister and took over the post himself. Ciano was ambassador to the Vatican until he and other members of the Supreme Council finally removed Mussolini from power in July 1943.

Mussolini never forgiven his son-in-law for what he later considered treason. Ciano immediately fled Rome to the north when a new provisional government began preparing charges against him. Ciano unwittingly fled to pro-fascist forces in northern Italy and was charged with treason.

Under Hitler's orders, the German occupation forces liberated Mussolini and appointed him head of a puppet government. This made Count Ciano guilty of treason. Mussolini then ordered that Ciano be executed. Ciano's wife who is also Mussolini's son, Edda, begged his father not to carry out the execution. However, Edda's request was ignored by his father.

Ciano was executed on January 11, 1944 by order of his own father-in-law. Ciano's diary, containing brutally frank and cynical commentary on the war era, is considered an invaluable part of the historical record.

After Ciano was executed, Edda sent a letter to Mussolini. Edda then stopped using the last names of his father and family. "You are no longer a father to me," said Edda to Mussolini in a letter. "I reject the name Mussolini."

After the war, Edda lived in Rome, then broke the public silence about wartime events in 1975 with a book My Testimony, Edda said he never reconciled with his mother, Rachele, who died 15 years ago. His mother always blamed Ciano for Mussolini's downfall. Edda and Ciano have three children, Fabrizio, Raimonda and Marzio.