Important WW2 Diplomatic passport

 

Wife of a high ranking Italian OVRA agent.

 

When it comes to important war related passports that can contribute to unfolding or understanding events of the time or to an individual who in some ways made an impact at some specific place or time, then the passport in the following article can be considered as an important example.

 

The document in this article was issued at the height of the Second World War and very close to one of its major junctions: middle of 1943. The events that began to unfold at the end of 1942 climaxing with the fall of the coming year would at the end pave the way to the end of the horror and carnage that began in 1939.

 

What at the first, in the beginning, seemed to be an overwhelming force, driven by rage and uncontrollable hunger of terror and dominance – that engulfed nation by nation on the continent sweeping aside vast armies and plunging all into a dark veil of hell – would later begin to show signs of cracking, in unity and in strength of the same forces and powers that had unleashed the devil himself from his cage at the beginning: Nazi Germany and its Allies would eventually be served what they have fed to all nations during the first years of the great war, meaning  that at the end all would be served back to them with even more vengeful force and desire for retribution. Axis powers fate would be devastating and horrific, with their outcome even being felt today around the world.

 

One of the Axis powers that joined forces with Hitler’s Germany was Mussolini’s fascist Italy.

 

Much has been written regarding Italy’s 20^th Century’s “follies”, starting with a totalitarian fascist regime that was established following Benito Mussolini’s march on Rome of 1922, the aligning of one’s country with Nazi Germany and the declaration of war against the west in 1940. All these events culminated with founding of the Italian Socialist Republic in 1943, a puppet state of Germany and the execution of its leader, Mussolini, at the end of the war in April 1945.

 

In June 10^th 1940 Italy joined the Axis side by declaring war on the western democracies: Britain and France. And as we all know how things turned out in the end, a move that would spell doom and chaos in the end for the country and its people.

 

Italian Diplomatic passport number 10/64 was issued at Rome on May 17^th 1943. It was issued to Mrs. Annunziata Barranco, wife of Italian secret-police agent (OVRA) Rosario Barranco. Before we can explain more about this individual and his war-time exploits, some clarification is needed regarding OVRA and mainly its areas of operation during the war: “Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell’Antifascismo” (OVRA) was the “Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism” and its equivalent in Nazi Germany was the Gestapo. It was active not only in Italy itself but ALSO in all occupied territory under Italian control up to 1943, and then in the northern Italian Socialist Republic (RSI) up to April of 1945. One of the locations the OVRA was fiercely operational was in the sections of occupied France. The areas closest to the Italian border with its western neighbor are important and relevant to our document in this article (important note: Following the fall of France in 1940, the CIAF was formed (“Italian Armistice Commission with France” – Commissione Italiana d’Armistizio con la Francia) this was a temporary body that was tasked with enforcing the Franco-Italian Armistice of June 24^th 1940 – a civil & military matters). This short-lived joint commission lasted until the full occupation of France on November 11^th 1942, where its functions moved to the Fourth Army under General Mario Vercellino. The Franco-Italian commission was based at Turin and under the Italian Supreme Command.

 

OVRA senior officer Rosario Barranco arrived in eastern occupied France, the Italian occupational zone, after the full occupation of the country in November of 1942, and settled at Villa Nobile in Nice, which became his HQ in the city. He was the senior officer at the time making him the highest ranking representative of the agency, the chief of the OVRA of occupied Nice. His duties, among others, were arresting and interrogation of anti-fascist Italian and French resistance members as well. Prisoners under the OVRA were kept in various prisons and facilities, such as: Lynwood villa, 98-100 avenue Brancolar (after sentencing was done at the Breil Military Court) and deportations to Italy and incarceration at prisons of Cuneo, Fossano, Ventimiglia, San Remo, Imperia and Genoa.

 

A month after arriving to Nice he was promoted to the rank of State Police Inspector with the position of conducting negotiations with his German counterpart SS Sturmbannführer Muehler. Negotiations with the two dealt with repressing anti German and anti-Italian activities in southern France and the Italian occupation zone. There are reports that officer Barranco even considered, at one point, to open concentration camps or forced-detention camps for Jewish refugees (the same was also contemplated for resistance fighters caught and apprehended by the OVRA).

 

What makes this passport important and relevant is the fact that it was issued to his wife, and also that another diplomatic passport was to him as well, most likely, who was joining him on the trip, and this is how we can learn about the routes taken: around July of 1943 Rosario, accompanied by his wife, crossed over into occupied France en route to Lisbon and Madrid in order to negotiate with the British and American ambassadors, and this was done twice. This would explain the visas inside this passport. The result of such a move caused him to find temporary refuge at the Vatican, after the German takeover of his country (capitulation of September 8, 1943), due to their suspicion of such a move by the Italians.  After several months of hiding he was able to return to Nice, to the RSI consulate and function there as a police commissioner. After the liberation he was protected by the Americans, which enabled him to escape the purges and hunt for former fascists. He resumed service in the police force and though he was sought after for war-crimes by the French in 1948, he was able to avoid arrest and deportation. He passed away in the 1950’s while serving as Prefect of Police in Cagliari, Sardinia.

 

The passport:

 

The passport is covered in blue leather covers, golden lettering on the front. Large folding sheet of paper with the holder’s personal details followed by a booklet with individual pages, consisting of a few visas:

 

• Passport issued to Annunziata Barranco, wife of Consular Commissioner Dr. Rosario Barranco;
• Spanish diplomatic visa No. 183 issued on June 23^rd 1943 by Emilio Hardisson y Pizarro (1901-1949) – passed away while serving at the Spanish consulate in Portugal, at Oporto;
• Portuguese diplomatic visa No. 602/43 was issued on June 22^nd by J. Pedro de Lima;
• German special visa issued at the German embassy in PARIS on July 16^th by Polizeisekretärs Karl Dräbing, for crossing the French border into Spain via Hendaye;

 

Would also like to thank the president of the French Resistance Museum for contributing important information for this article – Professor Jean-Louis Panicacci.

 

I have added images of this exquisite travel document.

 

 

 

Thank you for reading “Our Passports”.