Walter Audisio (1909 - 1973)

Mon Jun 28, 1909

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Walter Audisio, born on this day in 1909, was an Italian partisan and politician who was the person most likely to have executed Benito Mussolini. After World War II, Audisio served in Parliament as a member of the Communist Party.

Audisio was a prodigious students and worked for some years as an accountant before joining a clandestine anti-fascist group in 1931. When the group was discovered by the fascist secret police, ORVA, Audisio was sentenced to five years confinement on the island of Ponza.

Released during World War II, he continued to resist the Mussolini’s fascist government and, in September 1943, he started to organize the first bands of partisans in Casale Monferrato.

By January 1945, he had become a leading figure of the Italian resistance movement in Milan and began using the pseudonym “Colonnello Valerio”, a name possibly also used by Luigi Longo.

It was as an official of the National Liberation Committee that he received the order to execute Mussolini and his mistress, who had been captured the day before.

Although it is not known with certainty who pulled the trigger (various figures, including Audisio, have claimed to have executed Mussolini), the version of events with Audisio being directly responsible are generally considered the most credible.

After the war, Audisio was elected to parliament for the Italian Communist Party, where he served for 20 years.