Ministry of Popular Culture

Last updated
Minister of Popular Culture
Ministro della Cultura Popolare
Dino Alfieri.jpg
Longest serving
Dino Alfieri

11 June 1936 – 31 October 1939
AbbreviationMinCulPop
Member of Council of Ministers
Grand Council of Fascism
Reports to Duce
Seat Rome
Term length No fixed term
Formation23 June 1935 (1935-06-23)
First holder Galeazzo Ciano
Final holder Fernando Mezzasoma
Abolished25 April 1945 (1945-04-25)

The Ministry of Popular Culture (Italian : Ministero della Cultura Popolare, commonly abbreviated to MinCulPop) was a ministry of the Italian government from 1937 to 1944.

Contents

History

It was established by the Fascist government in 1922 as the Press Office of the Presidency of the Council, before being renamed to Press Office of the Head of Government in 1925. In 1934 it became the Secretariat for Press and Propaganda. It became a ministry in 1935 and was given its definitive designation in 1937. [1] During its existence, it controlled most of the literary and radio channels in Italy. [2] It was the Italian analogue of the German Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

The Ministry financed various Fascist publications, including La Difesa della Razza . [3] It famously outlawed the importation and translation of all American comic books, with the lone exception of Mickey Mouse, in 1938. [4]

The Ministry was officially suppressed by the Kingdom of Italy on 3 July 1944, having remained vacant ever since the overthrow of Benito Mussolini in the 25 Luglio coup a year earlier. During the Italian Social Republic, Mussolini revived the Ministry of Popular Culture and appointed Ferdinando Mezzasoma as its head.

List of ministers

Kingdom of Italy

Parties
Coalitions
PortraitName
(Born–Died)
Term of officePartyGovernmentRef.
Took officeLeft officeTime in office
Minister of Press and Propaganda
Galeazzo Ciano 1936.jpg Galeazzo Ciano
(1903–1944)
23 June 193511 June 1936354 days National Fascist Party Mussolini
Dino Alfieri.jpg Dino Alfieri
(1886–1966)
11 June 193627 May 1937350 days National Fascist Party
Minister of Popular Culture
Dino Alfieri.jpg Dino Alfieri
(1886–1966)
27 May 193731 October 19392 years, 157 days National Fascist Party Mussolini
Alessandro Pavolini (cropped).jpg Alessandro Pavolini
(1903–1945)
31 October 19396 February 19433 years, 98 days National Fascist Party
Gaetano Polverelli 2.jpg Gaetano Polverelli
(1886–1960)
6 February 194325 July 1943169 days National Fascist Party

Italian Social Republic

Parties
Coalitions
PortraitName
(Born–Died)
Term of officePartyGovernmentRef.
Took officeLeft officeTime in office
Minister of Popular Culture
Ferdinando Mezzasoma.jpg Ferdinando Mezzasoma
(1907–1945)
23 September 194325 April 19451 year, 274 days Republican Fascist Party Mussolini
(Social Republic)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galeazzo Ciano</span> Italian diplomat and politician (1903–1944)

Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari, was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1943. During this period, he was widely seen as Mussolini's most probable successor as head of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Social Republic</span> 1943–1945 German puppet state and fascist rump state in Northern Italy

The Italian Social Republic, known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy, but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò, was a German puppet state and fascist rump state with limited diplomatic recognition that was created during the latter part of World War II. It existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of Axis troops in Italy in May 1945. The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against it and the Italian Social Republic, leading to the Italian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alessandro Pavolini</span> Italian politician and writer (1903–1945)

Alessandro Pavolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and essayist. He was notable for his involvement in the Italian fascist government, during World War II, and also for his cruelty against the opponents of fascism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian resistance movement</span> Italian combatant organizations opposed to Nazi-Fascism

The Italian Resistance consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy from 1943 to 1945. As a diverse anti-fascist and anti-nazist movement and organisation, the Resistenza opposed Nazi Germany and its Fascist puppet state regime, the Italian Social Republic, which the Germans created following the Nazi German invasion and military occupation of Italy by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS from 8 September 1943 until 25 April 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manifesto of Race</span> Italian Fascist racial manifesto, promulgated in 1938

The "Manifesto of Race", otherwise referred to as the Charter of Race or the Racial Manifesto, was an Italian manifesto promulgated by the government of Benito Mussolini on 14 July 1938. Its promulgation was followed by the enactment, in October 1938, of the Racial Laws in Fascist Italy and the Italian Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economics of fascism</span> Economic policies of fascist governments

Historians and other scholars disagree on the question of whether a specifically fascist type of economic policy can be said to exist. David Baker argues that there is an identifiable economic system in fascism that is distinct from those advocated by other ideologies, comprising essential characteristics that fascist nations shared. Payne, Paxton, Sternhell et al. argue that while fascist economies share some similarities, there is no distinctive form of fascist economic organization. Gerald Feldman and Timothy Mason argue that fascism is distinguished by an absence of coherent economic ideology and an absence of serious economic thinking. They state that the decisions taken by fascist leaders cannot be explained within a logical economic framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Council of Fascism</span> Central body of the government of Fascist Italy from 1928 to 1943

The Grand Council of Fascism was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy, which held and applied great power to control the institutions of government. It was created as a body of the National Fascist Party in 1922, and became a state body on 9 December 1928. The council usually met at the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, which was also the seat of the head of the Italian government. The Council became extinct following a series of events in 1943, in which Benito Mussolini was voted out as the Prime Minister of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dino Alfieri</span> Italian politician and diplomat

Odoardo Dino Alfieri was an Italian fascist politician and diplomat. He served as Benito Mussolini's press and propaganda minister and ambassador to Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian fascism</span> Fascist ideology as developed in Italy

Italian fascism, also classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian Fascism is associated with a series of political parties led by Mussolini: the National Fascist Party (PNF), which governed the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, and the Republican Fascist Party (PFR), which governed the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945. Italian fascism also is associated with the post–war Italian Social Movement (MSI) and later Italian neo-fascist political organisations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascist architecture</span> Architectural style

Fascist architecture encompasses various stylistic trends in architecture developed by architects of fascist states, primarily in the early 20th century. Fascist architectural styles gained popularity in the late 1920s with the rise of modernism along with the ultranationalism associated with fascist governments in western Europe. Fascist styles often resemble that of ancient Rome, but can extend to modern aesthetics as well. Fascist-era buildings are frequently constructed with particular concern given to symmetry; simplicity; and monumental size, especially for public buildings.

A ministry of propaganda is the part of a government charged with generating and distributing propaganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Italy</span> Kingdom in Southern Europe from 1861 to 1946

The Kingdom of Italy was a state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished, following civil discontent that led to an institutional referendum on 2 June 1946. This resulted in a modern Italian Republic. The kingdom was established through the unification of several states over a decades-long process, called the Risorgimento. That process was influenced by the Savoy-led Kingdom of Sardinia, which was one of Italy's legal predecessor states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axis leaders of World War II</span> Political and military figures during World War II

The Axis leaders of World War II were important political and military figures during World War II. The Axis was established with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in 1940 and pursued a strongly militarist and nationalist ideology; with a policy of anti-communism. During the early phase of the war, puppet governments were established in their occupied nations. When the war ended, many of them faced trial for war crimes. The chief leaders were Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy, and Hirohito of Imperial Japan. Unlike what happened with the Allies, there was never a joint meeting of the main Axis heads of government, although Mussolini and Hitler met on a regular basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Fascist Party</span> Italian fascist political party founded by Benito Mussolini

The National Fascist Party was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 when Fascists took power with the March on Rome until the fall of the Fascist regime in 1943, when Mussolini was deposed by the Grand Council of Fascism. The National Fascist Party was succeeded by the Republican Fascist Party in the territories under the control of the Italian Social Republic, and it was ultimately dissolved at the end of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda</span> Nazi government agency

The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda, controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascism in Europe</span>

Fascist movements in Europe were the set of various fascist ideologies which were practiced by governments and political organizations in Europe during the 20th century. Fascism was born in Italy following World War I, and other fascist movements, influenced by Italian Fascism, subsequently emerged across Europe. Among the political doctrines which are identified as ideological origins of fascism in Europe are the combining of a traditional national unity and revolutionary anti-democratic rhetoric which was espoused by the integral nationalist Charles Maurras and the revolutionary syndicalist Georges Sorel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche</span> Public broadcaster in Fascist Italy

Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche was the public service broadcaster in Fascist Italy and the only entity permitted to broadcast by the government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascist Italy</span> Period of Italian history (1922–1943)

Fascist Italy is a term which is used to describe the Kingdom of Italy when it was governed by the National Fascist Party from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as prime minister and dictator. The Italian Fascists imposed totalitarian rule and they also crushed political opposition, while they simultaneously promoted economic modernization, traditional social values and a rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alessandro Casati</span> Italian politician

Alessandro Casati was an Italian academic, commentator and politician. He served as a senator between 1923 and 1924 and again between 1948 and 1953. He also held ministerial office, most recently as Minister of War for slightly more than twelve months during 1944/45, serving under "Presidente del Consiglio" Bonomi.

References

  1. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: the 'fascist' style of rule By Alexander J. De Grand
  2. Ezra Pound: the tragic years, 1925-1972 By James J. Wilhelm
  3. Francesco Cassata (2011). Building the New Man: Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy. Budapest: Central European University Press. pp. 223–284. ISBN   9789639776838.
  4. "Eccetto topolino" di F. Gadducci, L. Gori, S. Lama - Il Foglio.it › Una fogliata di libri Archived 8 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading