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
The Captain from Köpenick (1945 film) The Captain from Köpenick (1945 film) The Captain from Köpenick, also known as I Was a Criminal and Passport to Heaven, is a 1945 American comedy film directed by Richard Oswald and based upon the play "The Captain of Köpenick" by Carl Zuckmayer and Albright Joseph. The play was based on the true story of Wilhelm Voigt, a German ex-convict who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as the Captain of Köpenick. "The Captain from Köpenick" was Oswald's second film version of the story; the first was a 1931 German film also called "The Captain