The death of Benito Mussolini
But by April 1945, with the Allies advancing north through Italy, Mussolini knew the end was in sight. Together with his mistress, Clara Petacci, and a few followers, Mussolini fled and headed for the Swiss border. Stopped by Italian partisans on April 26, Mussolini’s attempts to disguise himself with a Luftwaffe overcoat and helmet had failed.
On April 28, 1945, 65 years ago today, at the picturesque Lake Como, the partisans stopped the car; pushed Mussolini and Petacci out, and ordered them against a wall. Whilst the partisans pronounced the death sentence, Petacci flung her arms around Mussolini and screamed, "No, he mustn't die."
Five bullets and Mussolini was no more. Seconds later, Petacci was also dead.
Their bodies were heaped into the back of a van, together with those of Mussolini's last followers, and transported to Milan.
In the city their bodies were delivered to the Piazzale Loreto, the scene of a mass execution of partisans the year before. The corpses were beaten and urinated upon and finally left to hang upside down, for public display, from a rusty beam outside a petrol station. Petacci had not been wearing knickers and a group of old women rearranged her skirt to preserve her modesty.
People surged around, desperate to get a look, to laugh and spit upon them, wanting to make sure that it was true: Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy for 23 years, was truly dead and Italy could live again.
The death of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin. His wife Eva (née Braun), committed suicide with him by ingesting poison. That afternoon, in accordance with Hitler's prior instructions, their remains were carried up the stairs through the bunker's emergency exit, doused in petrol and set alight in the Reich Chancellery garden outside the bunker. The Soviet archives record that their burnt remains were recovered and interred in successive locations until 1970 when they were again exhumed, cremated and the ashes scattered.
There have been different accounts citing the cause of his death; one that he died by poison only and another that he died by a self-inflicted gunshot, while biting down on a cyanide capsule. Contemporary historians have rejected these accounts as being either Soviet propaganda or an attempted compromise in order to reconcile the different conclusions. There was also an eye-witness account that recorded the body showing signs of having been shot through the mouth but this has been proven unlikely. There is also controversy regarding the authenticity of skull and jaw fragments which were recovered. Further, the exact location of where Hitler's ashes were scattered also differs, depending on the historical source consulted.
The death of Che Guevara
After leading communist insurrections in Guatemala, Cuba and Congo, Che Guevara’s next stop was Bolivia, where he was less than successful. On October 7 1967, his campsite was attacked, and Guevara was wounded and taken prisoner. He shouted “Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead.” However, he refused to be interrogated and the Bolivian government decided to execute him, carefully orchestrating the execution to make sure that the bullet wounds appear consistent with the official story which stated that Che had been killed in action.
The day after his execution on October 10, 1967, Guevara’s body was then lashed to the landing skids of a helicopter and flown to nearby Vallegrande where photographs were taken, showing a figure described by some as “Christ-like” lying on a concrete slab in the laundry room of the Nuestra Señora de Malta hospital. The above iconic shot was taken by Freddy Alberto. After the photos, his hands were cut off, so that they could be taken to Buenos Aires for fingerprint identification. He was buried in an unmarked mass grave.
The death of Osama Bin Laden
On April 29, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized a raid on bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad, Pakistan. The operation was successfully carried out in the early morning of May 2 (due to weather and time considerations) by U.S. Navy SEALs with intelligence support from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Toward the end of the raid, bin Laden was fatally shot in the head and chest. The entire raid, including intelligence sweeps of the compound, was completed in less than 40 minutes. His body was taken and facial recognition tests were performed. Later, genetic testing further supported bin Laden's identification. Within 24 hours of his death, bin Laden's body was handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition and taken out to sea for burial.
A photo made its way about the internet claiming to be photographic proof of the terrorist's demise. That myth has since been debunked. It turns out conspiracy theorists have been using the Photoshopped image for years.
President Obama's administration claims to have buried Bin Laden's body at sea, but many can't believe the government would so quickly get rid of this war trophy. Many citizens are now wondering where the proof is if the body is gone. And after such controversy over Obama's birth certificate, you can bet these citizens aren't going to back down.
The president's administration has reportedly been toiling over the benefits of releasing a photo to quell skepticism versus the possibility of further angering and provoking the Muslim community.
What about the Christian victims of terror? Did anybody worry about their decent burials or indeed of angering and provoking the Christian community? No ritual burial for the victims but a ritual Islamic burial for the perpetrator of the crimes?!
If we required proof of the death of other criminals, then why not for that of the greatest criminal of them all?
