Benito Mussolini speeches become Apple iTunes hit
A collection of speeches by Benito Mussolini has become an unlikely and controversial hit on the internet.
The speeches, the last of which was delivered in 1938 when Italy introduced laws which discriminated against Jews, are the second-most downloaded application on the Italian version of Apple’s iTunes website.
The popularity of the application, called iMussolini, caused outrage among some Italians in the week that the country commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day – the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet forces.
The website was inundated with comments condemning the continuing fascination with Mussolini and a member of the Italian Communist Party called the application “disgraceful”.
It contains 100 of Il Duce’s speeches and can be bought for 79 euro cents, or 68 pence. It was downloaded more than a video game based on the blockbuster science fiction film Avatar.
