By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
During the Italian fascist occupation of Ethiopia, 1936-1941, the
invaders looted not only the Aksum obelisk (which should have been
returned in 1947-8, in accordance with the United Nations-Italian Peace,
and in 1997, in accordance with the more recent Italian agreement with
the present Ethiopian Government).
The Italians also carried off an indeterminate quantity of other
Ethiopian artifacts. These included a number of Ethiopian royal crowns.
Several of these, according to local tradition, were looted from the
famous monastery of Debra Libanos, whose monks and deacons were
massacred by the fascists in May 1937.
Mussolini Gives Them to the Colonial Museum
Several Ethiopian crowns at around this time came into the possession
of Rodolfo Graziani, the Italian colonial general, who had led the
invasion of Ethiopia on the southern front, and was later fascist
Viceroy of Ethiopia.
According to the official Italian publication “Gli Annali dell’Africa
Italiana”, Vol. II, No. 2, for June 1939 (page opposite p. 702),
Graziani wanted to present four of these crowns to the Museo Coloniale,
i.e. the Colonial Museum, in Rome. Subsequently, however, he gave then
instead to his fascist master, Benito Mussolini, personally. The latter,
again according to “Gli Annali”, subsequently gave them to the Colonial
Museum. A photograph of them is reproduced in the publication, with a
caption stating that they were “precious crowns of the last four Negus”,
or kings, of Ethiopia. i.e. presumably Emperors Tewodros, Yohannes,
Menilek, and Haile Sellassie. (Lej Iyasu, as far as we know, was
uncrowned, and had no crown).
These four crowns, which were have apparently made of gold (or
perhaps in the case of some, gilt), were placed in the Sala Graziani, or
Graziani Room, named after Graziani.
The photograph, it will be noticed, shows in fact five, not four
crowns. Several other crowns are to be seen in a second photograph in
“Gli Annali”, not here reproduced. It depicts a second case, in the
museum, with several other obviously Ethiopian crowns. This would
suggest that the Colonial Museum, in 1939, possessed at least eight, and
possibly nine, such crowns.
Mussolini Takes Them Away as He Tries to Escape
Though Mussolini had reportedly given his crowns to the Museum, he
seems to have later revoked his gift (or had the crowns once again
looted?). We say this because we find apparently the same crowns a few
years later once more in his personal possession.
When attempting to flee to Switzerland, to escape from the Allies –
and (perhaps more significantly from the Italian Partisans) – in
Northern Italy, in April 1945, he took with him considerable treasure.
This treasure is popularly known as the “treasure of Dongo”, after
the place, near the Swiss frontier where the ex-dictator was captured.
The items he fled with were reported to consist of over sixty kilos of
gold, several thousands pounds Sterling, in British, Swiss, French, and
Portuguese money, and a large brief-case containing letters from Hitler,
Churchill, and other luminaries. There were in addition an undisclosed
number of Ethiopian royal crowns.
The fact that the Duce clung to the latter at such a difficult time,
for him, would suggest that they were in fact made of gold, and hence of
considerable sale value.
After the Duce’s execution, by Italian Partisans, at Dongo, on 28
April 1945, two Partisan leaders, General Raffaele Cadorna (left) and
Colonel “Valerio”, or Walter Audisio (right), were photographed with
these crowns.
The photograph, here reproduced, which shows three unmistakably
Ethiopian crowns, subsequently appeared in the Italian magazine “Epoca”,
of 25 August 1968. The shot was published primarily to depict the two
Partisan leaders, and is probably incomplete, on the left-hand side, the
side of the crowns. This leaves us uncertain how many Ethiopian crowns
the Duce in fact took on his last, historic, journey.
What, we may ask, happened to these Ethiopian crowns, which,
according to Article 37 of the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947, should have
been returned within eighteen months? How many of them were there? Was
the good General Cadorna, the good Colonel “Valerio”, and their good
Partisan troops, ever questioned about the crowns?
If so, what did they say?
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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