Ida Dalser

Ida Irene Dalser (born August 20, 1880 in Sopramonte near Trento , † December 3, 1937 in Venice ) was the first wife of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and mother of their son Benito Albino.

youth

The Trentino , in which Ida Dalser was born, then belonged to the Italian-speaking part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Ida Dalser thus had Austrian citizenship. Her father was the mayor of Sopramonte. After finishing school in Paris, she trained as a beautician. Then she opened a French-style beauty salon in Milan , which quickly developed successfully.

Marriage to Mussolini

Ida Dalser and Benito Mussolini met in 1907 and a relationship developed between the two. Benito Mussolini was a radical supporter of socialism in his youth . He was an active member of the Partito Socialista Italiano and held various offices there. He works as an editor for left-wing newspapers. In 1912 he became editor-in-chief of the party organ Avanti! , the circulation of which he very successfully increased. Ida admired him and supported him financially. She sold her beauty salon in 1913/14 and financed the newspaper “Il Popolo d'Italia” (The People of Italy), which he had recently published.

According to various sources, Benito Mussolini and Ida Dalser were civilly married in 1914. There are no official documents about the marriage; if they existed, then it is very likely that they were destroyed at the time of Italian fascism . Despite the uncertain sources, it is documented that Ida Dalser received state aid addressed to “his wife Ida Dalser” during the First World War, when Benito Mussolini was drafted into the war, which was only intended for family members of drafted soldiers. When Benito Mussolini was wounded in battle in December 1915, his commanding officer sent a telegram to this effect to "Signora Ida Dalser Mussolini". On November 11, 1915, Benito Albino was born as the son of Benito Mussolini and Ida Dalser. However, the relationship did not last. Shortly afterwards, on December 17, 1915, Benito Mussolini, who was still in the hospital , married his long-time friend Rachele Guidi , with whom he had a daughter, Edda , since 1910 , in front of the registrar in Treviglio ( Lombardy ) . There is no information about a divorce from Ida Dalser. A divorce was probably not possible under the Italian law of the time. Even if the sources are not completely certain, it can be assumed that Benito Mussolini committed bigamy .

Quarrel and death

The sudden marriage to Rachele Guidi injured Ida Dalser, and she had lost all her savings in the course of the relationship. She urged in vain that Benito Mussolini notarized the paternity of Benito Albino. She then successfully sued him for maintenance.

The political views of Benito Mussolini turned completely to the right during this period. In 1919 he founded the group of black shirts , the forerunner of the fascist party . He came to power through the March on Rome in 1922. Ida Dalser continued to pose as his first wife. She also claimed that he received payments from the French government at the beginning of World War I. In return, he should use his political influence so that Italy, which was still neutral at the time, would go to war alongside France.

As soon as Benito Mussolini was in power, Ida Dalser and her son were placed under police surveillance. According to eyewitness reports, all traces of the earlier marital relationship were removed by fascist agents, and her apartment was also searched. In 1926 she was admitted to the mental hospital in Pergine Valsugana against her will . Later she was sent to the mental hospital on the island of San Clemente (Venice) . She died there in 1937; cerebral haemorrhage can be found in the documents as the cause of death .

Benito Albino's fate

Fascist agents told his ten-year-old son Benito Albino that his mother had died. He was sent to a boarding school in Moncalieri . At the age of 15 he was adopted as an orphan by Giulio Bernardi, the former police chief of Sopramonte and a member of the fascist party. Benito Albino was unable to see his mother again, and he never gave up hope that his father would recognize him all his life. At the beginning of the Second World War he volunteered for the Navy and went to sea. Back at home he was - like his mother - admitted to a mental hospital in Limbiate , where he died of emaciation in 1942.

Processing in the media

The story of Benito Mussolini's marriage to Ida Dalser remained unknown for a long time. It was only discovered in 2005 by the journalist Marco Zeni. He created a television documentary and published two books ("L'ultimo filò" and "La moglie di Mussolini"). In 2009 a film about Ida Dalser's life was made under the title “Vincere”. It was directed by Marco Bellocchio , with Giovanna Mezzogiorno in the lead . The film was one of the exclusive circle of candidates for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 .

credentials

1. ^ Richard Phillips: Vincere — the tragic life of Ida Dalser, Mussolini's first wife . March 24, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
2. ^ Rupert Colley: Ida Dalser, Mussolini's first wife . December 3, 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Roberto Olla: Mussolini's complicated love life . October 17, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Mussolini's secret son . www.mein.Italien.info. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
5. ^ ^{A b c} Richard Owen: Power-mad Mussolini sacrificed wife and son , The Times. January 13, 2005. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. 
6. ^ Massimo Rendina: Fascismo: il figlio segreto di Mussolini . Storia XXI secolo. Retrieved June 19, 2014.