Dnevnik Grafa Chiano Ministra Inostrannykh Del Fashistskoi Italii [Diary of Count Ciano, Foreign Minister of Fascist Italy]

Bayreuth: Printed by Lorenz Ellwanger, 1946. Original wrappers. Dimensions: 21 × 15 cm. 63 pages. Text in Russian. With some minor wear, the condition is still very good for a book that was meant to be heavily used. <br /> <br /> Raised in the luxurious Palapso Chigi, the young, graceful, and cheerful Count Ciano was Mussolini's son-in-law and his foreign minister; he kept a diary in which he wrote about plans and hopes, the falsity and reality of Italian fascism in the days of its glory and fall. <br /> <br /> Ciano's diary is a historical document. It tells an almost fantastic story of Italian bluff and arrogance and how Hitler's success in destroying European civilization left the Duce breathless and desperate to achieve the same prestige for himself. The reasons for Italy's conquest of an unresisting Albania, the disastrous invasion of Greece, the incompetence of important-looking Italian generals and commanders, and the role played by the Petacci family in the final fall of Mussolini are all mercilessly brought to light. The superstructure that towered over the Italian people under the name of fascism will appear in this diary in all its emptiness. <br /> This account of the official life and views of the Italian Foreign Minister ranks prominently among the numerous Axis documents now discovered and published to the outside world. After a platoon of riflemen shot the diary author on the orders of Mussolini's father-in-law, this diary was secretly taken out of Italy by the author's widow, Edda Mussolini-Ciano. The diary has yet to reach us ultimately. There are many gaps in it, and the author's widow is busy searching for the missing pages. <br /> <br /> Count Galeazzo Ciano, the son of an Italian nobleman, was a writer whose popularity grew when Mussolini appointed him to the post of Fascist foreign minister. During those eight fateful years in power, Hitler and Mussolini created the Axis and plotted against World War II. (from the abridged American edition preface)<br /> <br /> This book was published by the Russian refugees and printed in a very small run to be distributed in post-war Germany's Displaced Persons (DP) camps. Due to difficult circumstances in those camps, including a lack of resources and military censorship, such publications are a testament to the resilience and determination of the displaced persons community during this challenging time in history.