Urbano Lazzaro (November 4, 1924 – January 3, 2006)Profile of Urbano Lazzaro
/ref> was an Italian

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

who played an important role in capturing

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 194 ...

near the end 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 opposin ...

. Lazzaro was born in

Quinto Vicentino Quinto Vicentino is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is east of A31. The town is the birthplace of Urbano Lazzaro, the Italian partisan who identified and arrested Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea M ...

in the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

region. As a young man, he joined the Italian

Guardia di Finanza The ''Guardia di Finanza'' (G. di F. or GdF) () (English: literal: ''Guard of Finance'', paraphrased: ''Financial Police'' or ''Financial Guard'') is an Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance. ...

before the war. When Italy's alliance with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

collapsed in 1943, Lazzaro was among many Italian officials arrested by the Germans. Lazzaro escaped from German detention and joined the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

partisans in northern Italy. By April 27, 1945, he was serving as the political commissar of the 52nd ''Garibaldi'' Partisan Brigade. At Dongo, troops of the brigade had halted a convoy of German trucks trying to escape into

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. A partisan became suspicious of an older "German" in a

greatcoat A greatcoat, also known as a watchcoat, is a large overcoat that is typically made of wool designed for warmth and protection against the weather. Its collar and cuffs can be turned out to protect the face and hands from cold and rain, and the ...

, wearing glasses, and with his helmet pulled down over his head. Upon having the man brought to his attention, Lazzaro immediately recognized him as the former ''Duce''. Lazzaro was not present at Mussolini's subsequent

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...

. However, he investigated the execution after the war and came to believe that Mussolini was shot the same day he was arrested, in contrast to the officially accepted version of events. Lazzaro published a book on this topic titled ''Dongo: la Fine di Mussolini'' in 1962. Lazzaro went on to become an executive of the ''

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Hydroelectric Authority'' after the war. He later moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

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 ...

where he and his wife had three children. During his wartime combat he was known as "Bill." He died in a hospital in

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

, Italy, in 2006, at age 81, having outlived almost all the other leading partisans.

External links

* ''Italian resistance fighter dead at 81'',

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began as ...

(ON). World, Thursday, January 5, 2006, p. C7. accessed on October 6, 2006.
Obituary

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazzaro, Urbano 1924 births 2006 deaths Italian resistance movement members People from the Province of Vicenza