September 24, 1942
 
     
 
 
1. Over a long period of years no authoritative voice has made itself heard publicly again   
t the totalitarian regime. The Political victims of the regime are almost exclusively the young   
Slavs of Trieste and Goritzia, a large number of whom were executed during the past twenty years.
 
     
 
 
2. It is said that there are some military personalities (Badoglio and a few others) who do   
not approve fighting on Germany's side, but these personalities have always obeyed, and received   
titles, promotions, and other favors from the regime, and either retired or were removed only   
after their failure.
 
     
 
 
3. No hope is to be placed in the Dynasty, which has always shown the most absolute   
submission to the regime, a submission that goes so far as to acknowledge the right of the Grand   
Council of the Party to change the order of succession to the throne.
 
     
 
 
4. It is true that grumblings and secret criticism are very frequent. It is a kind of   
fashion, even among the high "hierarchs" of the party and Mussolini's close collaborators. But   
one must not look among ideological reasons for the motives of this criticism; they are rather   
motives of a practical character. If there is a bread shortage and if the war news is bad,   
criticism increases; if, on the contrary, the news is good and hunger less acute, criticism   
diminishesl An instructive experiment was made in this sense when Tobruk fell and Rommel advanced   
into Egypt. It cannot be denied that there are sincere critics, honest persons and faithful   
christians who see the absurdity of this war for Italy, but all these Italian friends, when they   
talk among themselves or with foreigners, come to the same conclusion: It's true, but what can   
we do?
 
     
 
 
5. There is poverty. But poverty is relative, more acute in cities than in the countries.   
Italy is an agricultural country where, because of a favorable climate, the land produces a   
great deal in all seasons. The Germans now arriving in Italy find it a real paradise in   
comparison with their own country. It is everybody's ambition in Germany to visit Italy in order   
to satisfy the demands--legitimate ones, to be sure--of their stomachs.