Urbano Lazzaro

Urbano Lazzaro (1924 - January 3, 2006) was an Italian resistance fighter who is credited as capturing Benito Mussolini following World War II.

Lazzaro was born in Quinto Vicentino in the Veneto region. As a young man, he joined the Italian Guardia di Finanza before the war. When Italy's alliance with Germany collapsed in 1943, Lazzaro was among many Italian officials arrested by the Germans.

Lazzaro escaped from German detention and joined the communist partisans in northern Italy. By April 27, 1945, he was serving as the political commissar of the 52nd "Garibaldi" Partisan Brigade. At Dongo, troops of the brigade had halted a convoy of German trucks trying to escape into Switzerland. A partisan became suspicious of an older "German" in a greatcoat, wearing glasses, and with his helmet pulled down over his head. Upon having the man brought to his attention, Lazzaro immediately recognized him as Mussolini, the head of fascist Italy since 1925.

Lazzaro was not present at Mussolini's subsequent execution. However, he investigated the execution after the war and came to believe that Mussolini was shot the same day he was arrested, in contrast to the officially accepted version of events. Lazzaro published a book on this topic titled "Dongo: la Fine di Mussolini" in 1962.

Lazzaro went on to become an executive of the "Piedmont Hydroelectric Authority" after the war. He later moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he married and fathered three children.

The resistance fighter, also known to his friends as Partisan Bill, had been in a hospital in Vercelli, Italy before his death in 2006.

References

* "Italian resistance fighter dead at 81", Sudbury Star (ON). World, Thursday, January 5, 2006, p. C7. accessed on October 6, 2006.
* [http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/2-28-2006-89982.asp Obituary]