Serafino Mazzolini (9 June 1890 – 23 February 1945) was an Italian lawyer, fascist politician, and journalist.

Early life

Mazzolini was born in

Arcevia Arcevia is a '' comune'' in the province of Ancona of the region of Marche, central-eastern Italy. History According to tradition, Arcevia originates from a Gallic settlement anterior to the Roman conquest of Italy; following that, it became ...

, in the Marche. He founded a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

group in

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ...

, and soon became editor of the daily newspaper ''L'Unione''. An active

Italia irredenta Italian irredentism ( it, irredentismo italiano) was a nationalist movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Italy with irredentist goals which promoted the unification of geographic areas in which indigenous peoples ...

and advocate of Italy's entry into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was a volunteer soldier in 1915, and was awarded a

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross (german: Kriegsverdienstkreuz) was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Meri ...

. In 1918, Mazzolini returned to

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

and was deputy editor of ''L'Ordine'' newspaper, interrupting his assignment in order to join Gabriele D'Annunzio as the latter attempted to seize

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

for an "unredeemed" Italy (1919). A member of the provincial council in Ancona, he took part in the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...

of 1922. In 1923 he joined the

Partito Nazionale Fascista The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

(PNF) — becoming one of its leaders in 1924-1925. A deputy secretary for the PNF, he contributed to its Propaganda Office, and represented it in the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

from 1924 on. In 1926 he was awarded a supervisory position as member of the

Grand Council of Fascism The Grand Council of Fascism (, also translated "Fascist Grand Council") was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy, that held and applied great power to control the institutions of government. It was created as a body of th ...

. In quick succession, he renounced all PNF political missions, and returned to journalism for a while, before beginning a career in

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

. He became Italy's envoy to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

World War II

After the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the invasion of Yugoslavia carried out by the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

on their former ally the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

, Serafino Mazzolini was appointed High Commissioner for Italian-occupied Montenegro in 1941. He was appointed a high-ranking position in the fascist Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1943. After Mussolini's ousting and the Armistice of Cassibile (8 September 1943) between Italy and the Allies, Mazzolini joined the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

-backed and Mussolini-led Italian Social Republic, serving as its deputy-secretary for Foreign Affairs. During this period he amassed large debts to procure

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

medications to stay alive. He died at San Felice del Benaco as the result of a

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

produced by an insulin

injection Injection or injected may refer to: Science and technology * Injective function, a mathematical function mapping distinct arguments to distinct values * Injection (medicine), insertion of liquid into the body with a syringe * Injection, in broadca ...

Personal life

His elder brother, Conte Quinto Mazzolini, served as Italian consul in Jerusalem, and undertook negotiations with Abraham Stern, head of the Lehi terrorist group, which sought (but failed) to obtain Italian recognition of Jewish sovereignty in Palestine in exchange for placing Zionism under the aegis of Italian fascism.Joseph Heller, ''The Stern Gang: ideology, politics and terror, 1940-1949,''Frank Cass 1995 p.78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzolini, Serafino Italian military personnel of World War I Italian people of World War II 1890 births 1945 deaths People of former Italian colonies People of the Italian Social Republic Italian anti-communists Italian male journalists People from Arcevia Deaths from sepsis Infectious disease deaths in Lombardy Recipients of the War Merit Cross (Italy) 1941 in Montenegro 1942 in Montenegro 1943 in Montenegro Montenegro in World War II Drug-related deaths in Italy 20th-century Italian lawyers 20th-century Italian journalists 20th-century Italian male writers