Benito Mussolini Mussolini was rescued from captivity in the Gran Sasso raid by German paratroopers and "Waffen-SS" commandos led by Major Otto-Harald Mors. Adolf Hitler, after meeting with the rescued former dictator, then put Mussolini in charge of a puppet regime in northern Italy, the Italian Social Republic (, RSI), informally known as the "Salò Republic". In late April 1945, in the wake of near total defeat, Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci attempted to flee to Switzerland, but both were captured by Italian communist partisans and summarily executed by firing squad on 28 April 1945 near Lake Como. His body was
Clara Katharina Pollaczek regular touch with his ex-wife and Lili, his daughter. Clara Katharina Pollaczek frequently complained that she was not sufficiently seen out with Schnitzler "in society", and was not identified as his "official mistress". Their relationship became defined, increasingly. by conflict, for instance when Clara Pollaczek announced that she was anti-semitic. As Schnitzler recorded the exchange in his diary, this gave rise to a lengthy argument. Pollaczek had done nothing to conceal her Jewish provenance while Schnitzler had plenty of opportunity to observe the uglier face of antisemitism in Vienna during the 1920s and early 30s. Despite the arguments, neither partner