Rodolfo Graziani

Rodolfo Graziani

Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (August 11, 1882 – January 11, 1955), was one of the Benito Mussolini's military commanders in Italian colonial wars taking place in Libya and Ethiopia before and during World War II. Elsewhere in the world, not in Italy, Graziani is known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia" and "the Butcher of Fezzan (Libya)" because of the killings of the native civilians under his command; in Italy, in 2012, a monument partially financed by the Italian public funds was erected by the Italian supporters of Fascism. Despite the atrocities committed during the Pacification of Libya, in Italy is still known as the Pacifier of Libya (Pacificatore della Libia).

Graziani was an Italian Royal Army's (Regio Esercito) officer and Mussolini's Minister of Defence in the short-lived Fascist Republic of Salo, just before the end of World War II. Because the judgement of the national Italian tribunal was that he was only "receiving orders", he only served four months despite having been condemned to 19 years in 1948.