Mussolini Enacted Anti-Semitic Policies Without Warning.

According to the released diaries of the Fascist dictator's lifelong mistress, Benito Mussolini was a rabid anti-Semite who boasted that his hatred for Jews preceded Adolf Hitler's and swore to "kill them all." This was considered one of the interesting facts about Benito Mussolini.

Despite some early Jewish support for Mussolini's fascist movement, historians claimed the diaries seemed credible and confirmed the idea that he was passionately anti-Semitic. However, they advised that because these are the journals of the dictator's lover and not Mussolini himself, they should be treated with extreme skepticism.

Il Duce, in contrast to the führer in Nazi Germany, did not treat Jews particularly harshly—up to a point. Italian Jews were accepted as citizens and permitted to join the Fascist Party up until 1938. An official memo from the era told the public that "the Fascist government has no intention whatsoever of initiating political, economic or moral actions against Jews."

But this all abruptly changed. The government started enacting anti-Jewish legislation in July 1938. A few months later, Mussolini declared that everybody who had been naturalized after January 1919 would lose their citizenship and that "foreign Jews" would be deported. It's unclear exactly what caused the transition; historians disagree on the extent to which Mussolini himself held anti-Semitic views. It is believed that Hitler likely believed that expelling Jews would be a simple way to win over his Nazi allies.