PAVOLINI ALESSANDRO: (1903-1945) Italian Politician, Lawyer and Journalist. Secretary of the Republican Fascist ...

PAVOLINI ALESSANDRO: (1903-1945) Italian Politician, Lawyer and Journalist. Secretary of the Republican Fascist party 1943-45 and Minister of Popular Culture 1939-43. A close supporter of Mussolini, known for his cruelty against the opponents of fascism. A large bold black ink signature `Alessandro Pavolini´, to an 8.5 x 10.5 (21,5 x 27 cm) page removed from an autograph album. Also dated March XXI, [1943] in his hand. Small overall minor age toning to edges, otherwise VG Pavolini was captured after a desperate escape attempt swimming across Lake Como. Executed by the partisans in Dong. His body was hung upside down in public, along with Mussolini, Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci, Starace and Bombacci in Piazzale Loreto of Milan. Provenance: The present page originates from the personal autograph album of Marina Chaliapin (1912-2009), the daughter of Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938), widely regarded as one of the finest bass singers of the 20th century, and his mistress Marina Petsold (1882-1964) who became the singer's second wife in 1927. Chaliapin's daughter was married to Luigi Freddi (1895-1977) the Italian journalist and politician who edited the journal Il Popolo d'Italia and who was also hugely influential in Italian political cinema in the second half of the 1930s and beginning of the 1940s