WILUAM E. W GOWEN
October 20,2012
Religious Aspects of the Italian Invasion of f,thiopia
As part of the Rome CIC's " Operation Circle" investigation, in 1946-47, aimed at
recapturing 23 Gestapo, SD and other sS offtcers, who had "escaped" from the BritishpOW .u1ni in Rimini, in June 1946, one of the people we picked up was a former officer
of the fasiist Militia. Here, I will call him Enzo. He had fought in Ethiopia in 1935-37, in
Spain in 1938-39, in France in 1940, then in Yugoslavia and later in Italy, to May 1945.
fte naO not been killed or even wounded during those ten years, but had lost many of his
associates. Some, however, had survived, and iomehow through some ofthem he served
on the fringes of the postwar Rome Ratline. But Enzo did not know how it worked, who
ran it, or how far it extended.
I had successfully tracked down Enzo in 1947,because on several occasions he had
earlier been selected as the chauffeur to drive Ferenc Vajta around Rome and to and from
locations outside but not far from Rome. Enzo was introduced to me by Vajta himsell
after I had otherwise learned his identity.
Occasionally, Enzo had been asked to pick up or deliver-a person or persons-by car' both
within Rome and elsewhere in Italy. One of the pefsons he had handled briefly (before
handling Vajta) had been Amin El-Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem 'The
Mufti had been rpon*t.O by Italy before the war, had resided in pre-war Rgme' and still
"had friends" there, but had end"i,tp as an SS Gruppenfuehrer, resident in Berlin' Enzo
did not know how the Mufti had reaihed Rome afteithe war, but did know that the Mufti
had left Rome for syria "to fight the Jews." Enzo met the Mufti in1946, when he drove
him from Rome to ih. Adriatt port of Bari. During the drive, Enzo had a long
conversation with the Mufti. He told the Mufti about his military advgntules before and
during the war. For his part, the Mufti was reserved, and gave out little information'
To my surprise, Enzo then turned to the subject of the religious aspects of Mussolini's
in rasion oiftniopiu, as it related, in his mind, to the Catholic Church, the Ethiopian
ad;t. Church unO iit.l.*s. He explained that he had discussed the Ethiopian Coptic
Church with the Mufti, during the drive to Bari'
Like many Italians, Enzo believed that Italy had invaded Eahiopia to avenge the
catastrophic Italian defeat there, in March iggO, at Adua' The Italian Army had been
slaughtered, the Italian dead had been desecrated, and ltaly's military reputation had been
destioyed. Mussolini, backed by the King, was determined to revive Italian military
"honor," as part of ti, alleged ievival ofTiRo*an civilization and Empire'" Two Italian
armies, one in the North, based in Massaua, in Italian Eritrea and the other in the South'
based in Mogadis"lo, i"itufian Somaliland, were to converge onAddis Ababa' The
Northern Army *u, lo.tanded by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, a favorite of the King'
while the Southern Army was commanded by General Rodolfo Ciraziarn, the most Fascist
of the Italian Royal Army's generals.
Graziani had completed the conquest of Libya, in late !93.1,by stamqing out the Arab
"rebellion" that had lone of there fot 2}years. There, he-had bombed and burned
villages, and, per to,itint orders, had summarily executed captuled "rebels," and
members oftheir frrifi.r. finutly, he had pers-onally supervised the public hanging of the
last rebel leader, O,,'* ELMukd;, before-an assembled crowd of 20,000. Consequently,
Mussolini thought gr*un"was just the man for his Ethiopian takeover. And Graziani,
as we shall see, duly performed, ruthlessly and mercilessly, just as Mussolini had
expected.
Adua" the site ofthe Italian defeat in 1896. was just south of Massaua. And very close to
Aksunr, site of the f."V C"ptit shrine that held, ttn Copti" Church said' the Ark ofthe
Covenant. In fact, the Italian invaders passed triumphantly through Aksum before
reaching Adua. Thr "r.cond battle of Adu4" in october .lg35,became,- according to the
Italians, "a massacre.; 6, tttty proceeded, iodoglio".soldiers were ruthless with the
local population. His Army dntaineO the'rwo *6tt "lit"
of the Fascist Militia Divisions'
the.March zirt, *a n" loctober 2gb' significantly, the "March 23"' Division was
commanded UV "
rourin of the King the Duie of Pistoia' (March 23 was in honor of the
founding date of tne fascist Party ii tgtg, and October 2.8 was the date of Mussolini's
..March on Romd' in 1922.)But the naaodio army also included many "native troop"
regiments omr.reA iy ftAiunt fn"se nati; tt*pt were EritreanMoslems' They were
incorporated formally into an "Indigenous Army bOrps," commanded by General
Alessandro pirzio #r"fi, *to t poied directly to General Badoglio'
The Southern Army. led by Ctraziari,also included Italian k*y' Fascist MilitiA and
native troops, .fr oitfrrlrtier Somali vrotfttt' Also included was the Libyan Division'
which included r"r"rr.r" lrrus from Ltd;. ; ;4t.T*"t moved towards the Ethiopian
capital, Addis Ab#;;; It;i;" lit fott! Uombed village-s' toop concentrations and also
herds of cattle. On the explicit orders;il"ssoli* unO6f eadoglio' yho lmmanded the
overall invasior\ tt" rturiin air force "il;;try.".u'*:-lg devastating effect on the
population and ne-irebef' continge"t" Vfil*iini;s son-in-law' Galeazzo Ciano' his son
Bruno, and various Fascist Mnisters, in"frraing Giusepp.e Bottai' served proudly and
ostentariously in th"; fbt;e inr*riopii. Th;[, ,h.y'witnessed the excesses of the
Italian forces, first hand'
As the Italian armies moved forward, they usually demanded that the local feudal
nobility, on or*ii**rin rirg. -'-;lJ#,ilitrtiopi.ngrpefor, "submit" and pledge
loyaltytotheIt ilKt;tt"AP.Mt$li"i' r"rottttoitatedto do so' Then' if thev
demonstrded any hostility o'. AU"y"i tt'"ir formal respo-nses' they were attacked'
captured *a *."ii*r* e*ecutedio;il; *liiit'"i1it''o*ttt' includin*vomen' These
summaryouss ol*rion, *o" u*iiv;il;;; utJh-J native troops of the Italian
armies, all of ttrei M;.i;r. "u,
rn#o#,";;;;;''' tiatians' In effect' the invasion
had become a religious war'
2
Some time after Badoglio's army reached Addis Ababq Mussolini decided to turn the
entire country over to Graziani. Graziani was promoted immediately to Mlrshal of Italy,
and invested with the title of Viceroy. Badoglio left to a hero's welcome in Rome, where
he was proclaimed Duke of Addis Ababa" and given an elegant, specially built villa on
Via Bruxelles. By this time, however, the Ethiopian Coptic Church was enraged, and
reluctant to proclaim its formal submission, a$ the Copic Church to Italy. The Italians
had already zummarily shot gome Coptic priests, and these executions were continuing.
In addition, many Italian Catholic missionaries were seen assisting the invaders.
But Graziani formally demanded that they, the leaders of the Coptic Church, also pledge
allegiance to the Italian King and the Duce. The surprising respotlse was a m{9rcooidinated attack on the capital, by several "rebel" groups. Graziani repelled the attacks
with difiiculty. But he was then himself the victim of an assassination attempt at a
formal public ceremony in Addis Ababa. He was wounded.
Graziani reacted by accusing the Coptic Church of being responsible folth. assassination
attempt, which tre saiO had 6een planned by the Coptic Chaplain to the Ethiopian
Empeior. He then sent his troopi to the major Coptic religious center at Debra Libanos.
There, some 1,000 priests, other clerics and religious students were rounded up -_ and
summarily shot, wiihout any trialg over a period oftwo days. As in earlier cases, the
executions were carried outas mass shootings by the Moslem soldiers of the Italian
Army. There were apparently no survivors in Debra Libanos after the mass killings
ended.
(It should be noted that Graziani remained loyal to Mussolini to the errd, serving as
tl{inirt.t ofDefense of his Salo "Fascist Republican" government, and as commander ofits Italian Fascist Army until 1945. Consequently, Enzo had continued to serve Graziani
proudly, until the end ofthe war. Unlike so many others, however, Enzo evaded capture
i" lr,4"i'lg1s,and never became a prisoner of war. As for Graziani, he surrendered to the
Americans at war's end, but was turned over to the British almost immediately. Thus,
Graziani survived after the rilar, as a British POW, and was later tried in posfwar Rome.
Latq, he then served as the chief of the postwar neo'Fascist party, the MSI')
The religious aspects ofthe Italian invasion included, moreover, the Papal blessing ofthe
Italian tioops, delivered, in St. Peter's Square, by Pope Pius )( in 1935' Equally
importantly, ih. ttuliun Queen donated her gold wedding ring to help finance the war at a
.u;or pubiic ceremony in Rome. Then caml the subsequent nationwide Italian campaign
to [u"i all Italian wives and widows donate their wedding rings to the cause. These
"voluntary donations" eventually totaled 35 tons of gold.
Fascist Italy, of cours€, was bankrupt, and the wedding ring campai-g-n' anintrysion into,
it might be ihoughg the sacrament of maniage, was essential to the financing the cost ofthe invasion. Moreover, it seems likely that Graziani's war on the Ethiopian Coptic
Church was also aimed to seizing whatever assets the Ethiopian Coptic Church
possessed, including gold, to help finance what became the Italian Occupation'
The Ethiopian Coptic Church, unlike the Protestant Churches in Western Europe, had
never been part of or a spinofffrom the Roman Catholic Church, as Enzo explained tome. To Catholic eyes, he said, the Coptic Church seemed a spurious development. In itsmost solemn prayers, moreover, it invoked Abraham and the *God oflsrael.," and tracedits origins to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheb4 whose son by Solomon, Menelik,was the founder of the Ethiopian royal dynasty - and, Enzo said, of the Ethiopian CopticChurch. In fact, an Ethiopian Emperor, also named Menelilq was the Emperor who had
defeated the Italian Army at Adua in 1896. Enzo said that Amin El-Husseini had told himthat he considered the Ethiopian Coptic Church a branch of the Jewish religion" directlydescended from Solomon himself, and Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Consequently,he added, the Coptic Emperor ofEthiopia was proclaimed "The Lion of Judah,"
To make Graziani even angrier, Enzo said, Graziani had failed to reach Addis Abbaba
before Badoglio, because he had stopped along the way to inspect or search a large
Coptic Church - and had plunged several meters down into a hole when the church's
aisle pavement broke. He was injured, though not critically, but required medical rest.
Characteristically, Crraziani had immediately considered this "accident" a deliberate
attempt to assassinate him. The incidont further reinforced his virulent hostility towards
the Co$ic Church.
Now, we should recognize that, allegedly, the most sacred object possessed by the
Ethiopian Coptic Church was the Ark of the Covenant, contained in a holy crypt in a
Coptic Church in Aksum - not far from the site of the Italian defeat at Adua in 1896.
Some Copts, and inded the Copic Church itself, were said to believe, Enzo asserted"
that the Ark of the Covenant hai bestowed special powers on the Emperor Menelik that
day. That legend, a popular myth so further emaged Graziani that he decided to go to
Aksum to enter the boptic Church there and make offwith the Ark of the Covenant.
Enzo did not know if &aziani had done so. But if he had found what purported to be the
Ark of the Covenant, however, he would have done so secretly -- and seot that sacred
object secretly to Rome, in imitation ofthe (future Emperor) Titus' who had sacked
Jerusalem and the TemPle in 70 AD.
According to many senior Rabbis today, we should note,-Titus never found the Ark of the
covenant when he raided Herod's Temple in Jenrsalenq because, they assert, the Ark of
the Covenant had been seized and destrtyed much earlier-by the Babylo.i.ans' But Titus
did seize the enormous decordive container, a major work of Jewish religious art' made
of solid gold, which contained a symboiic Jont topy ofthc Covenant' Of course' Titus
himself was certaiJt;;.*p* on the monotheistic Jewish religion" though |te
recognized th* tfrejewish ieligious uuit otiti"t in Jerusalern, the Pharisees' denied the
divinity of the nonl"n Cods. B-V seizing th? grTt Iteasurele had unexpectedly
discovered inthe T;J;, iffi t b"flytfrght hewas simultaneously enrichingRome
and destroying the Jewish God'
Consequerrtly,someRabbisnowassert,theEt$o-91*.c"tti"ChurchinAksumnev€rcontained the fuk;frh. covenant. nnti i"rt*a,_u|. qr Temple in Jerusalem, the
church in Akzum contained only a u""t *pv ortrc covenant embraced in an elaborate
solid gold container that, ornamentally, probably depicted Moses, Abrahar\ Solomon,the Queen of Sheba and Menelik, the founder of the Ethiopian Coptic Church. If,therefore, Graziani had raided the Church in Aksunu as Enzo alleged, he, like Titusbefore hinl would have made offsecretly with all the gold he found there.
What Graziani did with the stone copy we don't know, but like Titus before him, heprobably dispatched it secretly to Rome, together with the gold.
As a start, athorough investigation of the 1936 massacre at Debra Libanos should be
initiated, in cooperation with the Ethiopian govenrment authorities. But even moreimportantly, the massacre at Debra Libanos should not be considered just as an isolatedincident, but rather as part of a larger religious, or rather anti-religious, program thatincluded the alleged raid, by Grazian| on the Church in Aksum.
But we must recognize that Graziani had then deliberately executed everybody he foundat Debra Libanos so that no survivors ofthe religious community there remained alive.We do not know, however, if there may have been a few survivors ofthese massacres.
Some such survivors, in later years, after the Italian defeat in Ethiopi4 might still havereported, later, on the Debra Libanos massacres, and the Italian Army's systematiclooting of monasteries and churches there. I note for the record that Graaani's '?oliticalAdvisor"' in Ethiopia, was Ignazio San Felice, a senior member of the Italian DiplomaticService, who in 1947-8 served as Diplomatic Advisor to the then President of Italy,Enrico de Nicola.
Graziani's postwar war crimes trial took place in Rome in 1948. He was tried by anItalian Military Tribunal, together with Prince Junio Valerio Borghese, who had alsoremained faithful to Mussolini to the end. Though both were "convisted," they werereleased immediately.
After 1945, however. no tribunal in Italy or elsewhere ever charged Graziani with warcrimes in Ethiopia.
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