Aldo Finzi (

Legnago Legnago () is a town and '' comune'' in the Province of Verona, Veneto, northern Italy, with population (2012) of 25,439. It is located on the Adige river, about from Verona. Its fertile land produces crops of rice, other cereals, sugar, and ...

, 20 April 1891 –

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 24 March 1944) was a Jewish-Italian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

and soldier. Finzi started out his political career as an alderman in

Badia Polesine Badia Polesine is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rovigo in the Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about west of Rovigo. It is part of the upper Polesine, and is bounded by the Adige river, which sepa ...

. He participated in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

initially as a soldier, later as an

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

officer and finally as a pilot in the air service of the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manf ...

, and was one of the fighter pilots in Gabriele D'Annunzio's flight which dropped propaganda leaflets over

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He was awarded one

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

and two Bronze Medals of Military Valor for his wartime service. Afterwards, he studied law in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

. In 1921, he was one of the nine Jewish deputies elected to the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...

for the ''

Fasci italiani di combattimento The ''Fasci Italiani di Combattimento'' ( en, Italian Fasces of Combat, link=yes, also translatable as ''"Italian Fighting Bands"'' or ''"Italian Fighting Leagues"'') was an Italian Fascist organization created by Benito Mussolini in 1919. It wa ...

''. Having reached the rank of

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

, in January 1923 he was appointed Vice Commissioner for the Air Force (the titular commissioner being

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

himself, who however delegated all matters to Finzi), a post he held until 1925, being one of the founders of the

Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was aboli ...

in 1923. Finzi had to resign as under-secretary of the interior, when in 1924, the Socialist deputy

Giacomo Matteotti Giacomo Matteotti (; 22 May 1885 – 10 June 1924) was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence ...

was murdered. From 1925 to 1928, he was president of the Italian National Olympic Committee. He left the Chamber of Deputies in 1928. He became a fierce opponent of the fascist

racial laws of 1938 A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

, and in November 1942 he was sentenced to confinement in the

Tremiti Islands The Isole Tremiti, also called "Isole Diomedee" (Diomedes' Islands, from Greek ''Diomèdee'', Διομήδεες) are an archipelago in the Adriatic Sea, north of the Gargano Peninsula. They constitute a ''"comune"'' of Italy's Province of Foggi ...

after publicly declaring that the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

would win the war and the Fascist regime would collapse. He was released after deposition of Mussolini by 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 July 1943, and after the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Bri ...

he became engaged in the resistance struggle against the German occupying forces, participating in the fighting in

in September 1943 and later setting up a Resistance group that carried out

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

actions against the Germans. In February 1944 he was captured by the SS and identified as a member of the

Italian Resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...

. In retaliation for a bomb attack which claimed the lives of 33 members of the German Polizeiregiment Bozen on 23 March, he was among the 330 prisoners executed in the

Ardeatine massacre The Ardeatine massacre, or Fosse Ardeatine massacre ( it, Eccidio delle Fosse Ardeatine), was a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War ...

on 24 March 1944.

References

1891 births 1944 deaths People from Legnago Jewish Italian politicians National Fascist Party politicians Deputies of Legislature XXVI of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVII of the Kingdom of Italy Politicians of Veneto Italian military personnel of World War I Italian resistance movement members People murdered in Italy Italian murder victims Fosse Ardeatine massacre victims {{Italy-politician-stub