#national fascist party
Benito Mussolini kept a personal archive, also sometimes called the Handbag Files, throughout his rule as Italian National Fascist Party leader and later head of Hitler’s puppet government, the Italian Social Republic. By early 1945, Mussolini was incredibly paranoid about how he would be viewed historically and began making plans to keep his personal records hidden.
With the Allies bearing down, however, Mussolini’s plans did not come to fruition, and his files fell into the hands of the U.S. Army, which immediately began translating and copying files to be used for intelligence. In 1950, the Historical Division of the Department of State transferred copies to the @usnatarchives, making a once private archive now available to anyone.
Learn more about the personal files of Benito Mussolini.
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