Today is the 127th anniversary of Führer’s birthday.
Sitting here on a balcony in Palermo makes me reflect again on the lies about America’s role in WW2. The lies are so extended and variegated that one wonders how historians in the millennium will straighten it all out.
One of the lies is that Italian fascism was bad, and that the Allies came in and “liberated” Italy (from itself?).
The descendants of one of the natural sons of Federico II have lived continuously in a house on the old south wall of the city. Mind you, we’re talking 700 years. During the tour, I learned that mafia have built stables and hovels for drug-dealing in their back yard, and the authorities can’t/won’t do anything about it. Yes, I mean literally: in their back yard.
This is almost incredible for an American. As badly as eminent domain can be abused, and so forth, nothing like this could happen in America, nor is it even conceivable.
But the mafia was virtually put out of business by the Fascists. Unfortunately, the death penalty could not be put in force. When the Americans marched through Sicily, the mafiosi were set free from the prisons, and indeed many were installed as mayors of the towns. I guess this detail was left out of the great movie Patton.
Here is a link that describes the situation.
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