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' Rumors7 'Rumors Rumors ' Cost Dime a Dozen DozenI DozenIn DozenIn I In Secretive Dictator Lands ROME ID OME - Those ' uncon unconfirmed unconfirmed uncon-Cv uncon Cv - firmed reports ' and ru rumors rumors . , mors 'your your ' your newspaper brIngs bringsfrom bringsfrom from Rome , Berlin and other othertotalitarian othertotalitarian ! totalItanan totalitarian cities may prove provein proven ; In ) n the end to be false-but false but falsebutdon false - butdon . don t blame your newspaper ' In both Germany and Italy Italywhere Italywhere Italywhere where news must filterthrough filterthrough filter | through a m n stry of propaganda propagandabefore propagandabefore propagandabefore before painstaking censors dec de dewhether dewhether dewhether whether it should be released the themost themost themost most fantast c rumor may prove to tobe tobe tobe be true On the other hand a very verylogical verylogical verylogical logical report from some d stant stantprovince stantprovince stantprovince province may hav havp have . been entirelyfalse entirelyfalse entirely entirelyi i false Tl TI e a foreign correspondent has hasa hasa a choice of waiting waItmg several days daysuntil daysuntil daysuntil until the story is dead dcad and andti andU andtl ti U us having havmg it denied or confirmed confirmedby confirmedby confirmedby by the propaganda ministry or he hecan hecan hecan can take a chance and release Itas itas it as a rumor rumorMystery Mystery of Eye Doctor DoctorMussollni DoctorMussolini DoctorMussolini Mussollni Mussolini and Hitler are both men menof menof menof of mystery whose comings and go goings goings goings ings make big news 1 \ x et lucky m in mdeed indeed mdeed deed is the tore fore gn correspondent correspondentwho who can pierce the veil of o1 secrecy secrecyand secrecyand secrecyand and send his paper an authentic authenticat authenticated at ated ed story Recently Mussolini Mussoimi made madea a secret visit into mto northern Italy Italywh Italywh Italywh wh ch produced three rumors for forcorrespondents forcorrespondents torcorrespondents correspondents Take your p ck (1)He (1)He ( (1) 1 ( ) | He was gomg gOing to Switzerland to consult consuit con conL L suit sult an eye special st it (2) 2 ( ) he was wasmeetmg wasmeeting wasmeeting meetmg meeting Hitler in m the Brenner pass pass(3) pass3 (3) 3 ( ) he was meet ng a German Gcrman d plo plomat plomat plomat mat and the Swiss eye specialist speclallst at atVenIce atVenice atVenice VenIce Not untilalmost until almost a week weeklater weeklater weeklater later d d the mm stry of o1 popular popularculture popularculture popularculture culture ( known as Pop Cult to tocorrcspondents tocorrespondents tocorrespondents corrcspondents correspondents ) give reporters the thestory thestory thestory story Several of them got severe severedrcssmgs severedressings severedressings drcssmgs dressings down for hav hay ng Issued Issuedfalse issuedfalse issuedfalse false reports yet no one could lave laveexpected I ave aveexpected aveexpected expected them to 10 ignore II Duce s stnp strip strip stripTroop tnp trip tnpTroop tripTroop Troop Train Tram PanicS PamcS Pamc Panic S m larly the world was startled startledseveral startledseveral startledseveral several months ago by reports that thatGerman thatGerman thatGerman German troops were passing passmg south southward southward southward ward through Bienner Blenner Brenner pass for ( or re resh resh resh sh pment by boat to Ital an colon es esIn esin esin In Italy Th 3 s w"is wis w\s w s w ' \ " is a sensat onal onalstory onalstory onalstory story substant substanl ated by a respected Ie , . ' - . - x xt t ! / s f < 1- 1 - 1IL , . , " - , " ' feww ' Vfi Vv S/ S " " * > / ? Sf / $ f s & s 4 4w < w < * $ a6r.6'F a6r.6F a6r6F . ' J ' x t .tnr tnr . .tnrIL ? s saL aL IL DUCC-Dld DUCC Dld DUCE-Did DUCE Did DUCC - Dtd he visit an eye eyedoctor eyedoctor eyedoctor doctor llerr Herr II err Hitler hitter or just a adIplomat adiplomat2 adiplomat9 adiplomat9private dIplomat diplomat2 ? diplomat2private private pnvate German citizen who sa d his hisCOUSin hiscousin hiscousin COUSin had seen the troop tra ns nsone nsone nsone one n ght at Genoa Similar ru rumors rumors rumors mors came from many villages villagesalong villagesalong villagesalong along the lineIn lineIn line lineIn In the end these troop trams trains tramsproved trainsproved trainsproved proved to be h pments of German Germanconfscated Germanconfscated Germanconf confscated seated Czech army equ pment pmentbeing pmentbeing pmentbeing being sent to L bya in m tra ns guard guarded guarded guardcd ed by German sentriesRecently sentriesRecently sentries sentriesRecently Recently Italian Itahan newspapers made madecapital madecapital madecapital capital out of false rumors pr nted ntedabroad ntedabroad ntedabroad abroad publ sh ng a 1 st of them themunder themunder themunder under the head ng An Anthology of ofraIse ofFalse ofFalse raIse False News It included mcluded stories storiesgrow storiesgrow storiesgrow grow ng out of the seemingly tantast fantast fantas t c report that fore gners were wer " . be ng ngeVicted ngevicted ngevicted eVicted from the Ital an Tyrol Th s sstor sstory sstoo stor story ) denied dcmed by Pop Cult was wastrue wastrue wastrue wastrueSo true trueSo So wl wi tvl Ie le Germans and Italians Italiansblame Italiansblame Italiansblame blame democrat c mal ce or pan c cfor cfor cfor for tl tI e a melange of rumors si St rround rroundng rroundng rroundng ng tl ti e r corn com ngs ind "Ind and " go ngs for forelgn foreign foreign elgn eign conespondents coriespondents put the blame blameelse blameelse blameelse else vhere-on vhere on vhere - on a blanket system syslem of ofnews ofnews ofnews news Sl suppress sipprcsson pprcss on on1 \ wl \\1 1 wi ch has ha ; > made madethe madethe madethe the task of ct cl ci eck ng rumors almost almostImpossible almostimpossible almostimpossible Impossible almostI I |