Alessandro Pavolini (27 September 1903 – 28 April 1945) was Secretary of the Republican Fascist Party of the Italian Social Republic from 15 November 1943 to 28 April 1945.
Biography[]
Alessandro Pavolini was born on 27 September 1903 in Florence, Italy, and he earned a law degree at the University of Florence and a political science degree at the Sapienza University of Rome. In 1922, he led a squad of blackshirts during the march on Rome, supporting Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party. From 1929 to 1934, he led the PNF in the city of Florence, and he entered the Italian Chamber in 1934. From 1939 to 1943, he served as the Minister of Popular Culture of Italy under Mussolini, having an iron grip over the activities of the press in Italy. Pavolini was also involved in the film industry, having an affair with actress Doris Duranti. After the downfall of the National Fascist Party in 1943, Pavolini became the secretary of the new Republican Fascist Party, and he led the Black Brigades, the paramilitary army of the new Italian Social Republic of northern Italy. On 28 April 1945, he was captured by Italian partisans at Lake Como, and he was executed at Dongo before being hung upside-down at a Milan gas station alongside Mussolini and other fascist leaders.