The diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano

This book makes considerable use of Ciano's diaries, particularly the wartime ones. Some examination of their reliability is therefore in order.

Most scholars, including the late Mario Toscano, have accepted the genuineness and reliability of the diaries. But caution is necessary. According to some accounts of those who knew him, Ciano devoted considerable time after his removal as foreign minister in February 1943 to rewriting. Suspicions of this sort receive support from the serious anachronism (the reference in the 12 December 1940 entry to Rommel, who had no connection with the Italians until February 1941) that Andreas Hill-gruber first pointed out. The discrepancy has recently led David Irving, for one, to dismiss the diaries as totally unreliable.

However, the Rommel anachronism is not necessarily evidence that the diaries are a fabrication, or even that the text is thoroughly corrupt. Examination of Allen Dulles's films of the original agendas (NARS Microcopy T-586, roll 25) suggests that very little editing took place. Ciano crossed out one long passage (25 October 1939) and two short ones (5 December 1940, 8 July 1942). He also removed the pages for 13–18 April 1940, 27 January–23 April 1941, 24 July–21 September 1941, 18–23 August 1942, 12–21 September 1942, and 1–2 February 1943 (apparently because he made no entries for those days). Above all, he tore out the page for 27/28 October 1940, and rewrote the entries for 26, 27, and 28 October on the remaining pages. Presumably the original entry for 28 October was simply too embarrassing to leave in.

But this evidence of limited tampering actually speaks in favor of the authenticity of what remains.