Today s post comes from Sonia Kahn in the National Archives History Office It is part five of a series on the history of some of

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Today s post comes from Sonia Kahn in the National Archives History Office It is part five of a series on the history of some of the seized foreign records housed at the National Archives Unlike the very systematic seizure and filming of German records the acquisition of many of the Italian records that made their way to the National Archives was purely by chance The personal papers of Benito Mussolini also sometimes called the Handbag Files are a prime example Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich Germany June 1941 National Archives Identifier 540151 Known as Il Duce Mussolini was the head of the Italian National Fascist Party He served as Prime Minister from 1922 until July 1943 when his extreme unpopularity led King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy to dismiss and arrest him Just months later on October 13 the Italian state switched its alliance and formally declared war on Germany Mussolini s reign however was not finished and in September 1943 he was rescued from prison by a German paratrooper unit At Hitler s suggestion

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