2023-05-09 01:08:28
Cronus has been kind to Antonio Scurati (Naples, 1969). Since the project to recreate the political life of Benito Mussolini in three historical novels began in 2020, the professor of Contemporary Literature at the IULM in Milan has rejuvenated. Although he shies away from flattery: “I’ve aged a lot!” What he does admit is having gained wisdom; in part, because of the slaps that life has given him in recent years. His groundbreaking vision of the ‘Duce’, whom he defines as a Judas who adapted to Nazi racial policies, and his controversial conviction that fascism still beats in the heart of Italy have earned him more trouble than joys. “The legacy of the dictator is very much alive in my country,” he assures ABC.
The author, who presents in Madrid ‘M. The last days of Europe‘ (Alfaguara), is controversial in his land. The election campaign last summer did not sit well with him. He gave interviews left and right, but became the center of attention when he referred to the victory “of a new kind of fascism” and clamored to “flee from its normalization.” Some accused him of exaggerating; others, of having “very radical premises.”
It seems that he has learned his lesson, because, after toying with a glass of water, he turns the conversation around: “Weren’t we here to talk about history?” And, without giving time to the next question, with Neapolitan grace, he raises the stick of the puppet against Mussolini: “He entered the Second World War for many reasons, and all of them were wrong.”
strange evolution
Scurati began his literary adventure with the rise of Mussolini and fascism (‘M. The son of the century’) and continued with the consolidation of the dictator in the twenties (‘M. The man of providence’). The next step, the natural one, was to plunge knee-deep into the conflict that bled the world. And the truth is that his premise is surprising in a Europe accustomed to Manichaeism: «The reality is that the Italians did not want to fight alongside the Germans in any way. They were his historical enemies from the First World War and they aroused misgivings and mistrust». The common people, the professor insists without falling into justification, were not in favor of the exacerbated racism that the Third Reich exuded either.
Mussolini, who was not a fool, knew it. In fact, he criticized the ‘Führer’ for years in public and private to win the favor of his compatriots. “I know Hitler. He is an idiot and a fanatical scoundrel. When no trace of him is left, the Jews will still be a great people. His is a farce destined to last a few years, “he admitted in 1934. Scurati is in favor of the fact that the Italian dictator knew how to see” the Luciferian, terrifying and crazy side “of his colleague. By then, his followers understood the devastating power that was built into Nazism.
To make matters worse, the ‘Duce’ shunned war in principle because he knew that the country was neither morally nor militarily prepared for it. “They lacked armored divisions, the differentiating weapon, and the fuel to feed them,” he says.
The ‘Duce’ played his cards, and did so in a thousand ways. In the Munich Accords, orchestrated to solve the crisis in the Sudetenland, he presented himself as the champion of peace, calmed down Hitler and avoided war. His people received him for this with praise. But, aware of German power, he made concessions to the ‘Führer’ such as the approval of some racial laws that contradicted him and in which he did not believe: «This empty man, without his own convictions, adopted the ideas and policies according to the convenience of the moment . That made him even more guilty than a convinced anti-Semite. In September 1938 he passed the most ruthless legislation in Europe including the German one, and he did it out of mere opportunism ». Here is the most controversial argument of the work.
putin and russia
In the end, Mussolini wanted to prevent Italy from taking a backseat. After the annexation of Austria and the military walk through Poland and France, he glimpsed the possible German victory and chose sides. He did it despite the fact that, according to Scurati, he lacked strong ideas; but also because he shuddered to think about the power of the panzers: “The reality is that he was afraid to face Hitler.”
The last piece of the domino was to maintain the smokescreen that had been erected for twenty years. «The psychological component of wounded pride, narcissism and frustrated egocentrism influenced. He did not want to acknowledge the impotence of Italy. For this reason, when he had to decide between rhetoric and reality, he again chose rhetoric ». The problem is that, a sigh later, reality came back to look for him.
Hitler and Mussolini, in May 1938
His peer, Hitler, is not exempt from guilt, since he allowed himself to be captivated by the hollow security of aligning himself with a country that he considered to be the head of Europe. “I didn’t know it was such a weak power. For him, Italy was key. If he had not found an ally in Mussolini, he would not have embarked on the war », he completes. The problem is that the ‘Duce’, the great beacon of fascism that the ‘Führer’ revered before the conflict, was unable to maintain the farce for a long time. The mistake, Scurati argues, is similar to the one he made today Vladimir Putin: “Russia has desperately sought allies and has relied on China. What she hadn’t calculated was that this would make him a subaltern of the Beijing government. It is a terrible consequence that has doomed the Russian people.”
Scurati remains thoughtful. Out of nowhere, and as direct as when he charges at Giorgia Meloni, he claims that he is exhausted. He offers one more question. “What is the most difficult question for you to answer?” “They always ask me for advice to prevent all this from happening again. And I don’t know them », he ends it. You can’t know everything.
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