"On Thursday 16 March an armed group of the Red Brigades captured and locked up Aldo Moro, president of the Christian Democrats in a prison of the people. His armed escort, made up of five agents of the notorious Special Corps, was completely annihilated".
Thus began the Red Brigades communiqué announcing in 1978 the kidnapping of the president of the Christian Democrats Aldo Moro and the massacre of all the agents of his escort. That sheet was sold at auction today for € 32,760.
The document, put up for auction by the Bertolani Fine Art auction house, has gone from a basic offer of 600 euros to today's 26 thousand, which with auction rights reaches the final figure of 32,760 euros. The buyer, of whom, as always, nothing is known, was awarded the document by telephone connection with the auction house, surpassing in the offer another potential buyer who instead followed the tender connected online. The flyer was included in Lot 43 of the "Autographs & Memorabilia" section.
"This was the first of a series of press releases (nine in all, ed) that followed, right up to the epilogue", reads the description. "Dramatic propaganda text, written and sent to journalistic organizations to divulge the reasons for the kidnapping, and the political reasons for the class struggle that pushed the Red Brigade revolution in the 70s to be so violent".
The document, at the bottom the date of March 16, 1978 and the signature "Red Brigades for communism", was found by the BR 48 hours after the kidnapping on the roof of a photo machine in an underpass between Largo Arenula and Largo di Torre Argentina, in Rome. Also attached is a polaroid portraying Moro.
It is not the first case of an heirloom linked to the darkest years in the history of Italy and beyond: in the 90s some autographed manuscripts by Benito Mussolini were sold at auction, while in 2005 they were assigned in London, for about 3 thousand euros, some telegrams with which the Duce and Adolf Hitler exchanged messages of congratulations and mutual fidelity. In 2019, in Munich, some memorabilia ended up at auction including the Fuhrer's hat and a copy of the Mein Kampf.
(Unioneonline / D)