Vittorio Vidali
Vittorio Vidali (born September 27, 1900 in Muggia , † November 9, 1983 in Trieste ) was an Italian politician , staunch Stalinist and GPU agent.
Vittorio Vidali (who, among other things, also used the name Carlos Contreras) played a key role in the formation of the Fifth Regiment with Enrique Castro Delgado in Madrid at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War . He is described by historian Hugh Thomas as brutal, efficient and resourceful. He was known for having shot cowards. Under his guidance, the communists Enrique Lister and Juan Modesto developed into military talents.
Vittorio Vidali was a member of the Military Council that emerged from the Organizing Committee for the Establishment of the International Brigades . The Military Council was established on October 26, 1936 in Albacete , the headquarters of the International Brigades. Members of the military council included Vittorio Vidali, Vital Gaymann (Vidal) and Karol Świerczewski (General Walter). The council's interpreter was Constancia de la Mora .
He is known to have participated in the murder of anti-Stalinists in collaboration with the GPU agent Josef Romualdowitsch Grigulewitsch . He was involved in assassinations of Julio Antonio Mella (1929), Leon Trotsky (1940), Carlo Tresca (1943) and other opponents of Stalin. He was also probably involved in the murder of Andreu Nin , the party leader of the POUM . Because of these results, Vidali was feared during the Spanish Civil War.
From 1958 to 1963 he represented the PCI in the Camera dei deputati . He was then a member of the Senato della Repubblica until 1968 .
literature
- Vidali , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 24/1950 from June 5, 1950, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
- Vittorio Vidali , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 39/1957 of September 16, 1957, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely available)
- Tina Modotti . Photographer and revolutionary , Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-85409-028-5
Web links
- Literature by and about Vittorio Vidali in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Hugh Thomas : The Spanish Civil War , Ullstein Verlag, Berlin West 1962, page 193
- ^ Antony Beevor : The Spanish Civil War , 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-442-15492-0 , page 208
- ↑ Introduction to The Spanish Revolution 1931-37 , accessed October 24, 2012
- ↑ Vittorio VIDALI. Retrieved May 1, 2018 (Italian).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vidali, Vittorio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Contreras, Carlos (code name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian politician, member of the Camera dei deputati and GPU agent |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Muggia |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 9, 1983 |
| Place of death | Trieste |