5. Rodolfo Graziani
Before being named Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic in World War II, Rodolfo Graziani served as viceroy in Italy’s colonial expansion into Libya and Ethiopia. After surviving an assassination attempt in Ethiopia, Graziani’s response was to initiate Yekatit 12, which would come to be known as the day when hordes of Ethiopians were indiscriminately massacred and imprisoned. According to Ethiopian sources, up to 30,000 people were killed by the Italians in response to the assassination attempt. Graziani was eventually sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment, of which he only served four months. Since then he’s roamed the world freely, and has written several books. He was even honoured with a mausoleum and memorial park in a village south of Rome.
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