Content note: Photograph of Ethiopian men raising the arm in the Roman salute before a portrait banner of Mussolini during the Italian occupation of Tigray, 1935. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Three Ethiopian men raise the arm before a banner portrait of Mussolini in a steel helmet, Mekelle, November 1935
Three men in cloaks, seen from behind, stand with right arms raised before a large cloth banner showing Mussolini in profile in a steel helmet, between two fasces. The Roman salute is performed to a portrait hung in the bush; the helmet and fasces carry military and Roman authority onto the leader's image. The photograph does not show whether the salute was spontaneous, requested or staged.
- Date
- November 1935
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- Italian military administration, occupied Tigray (portrait banner); photographer unknown, Polish National Digital Archive 1-E-209
- Country
- Fascist Italy
- Medium
- Photograph
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Fascist Italy
- Leader
- Benito Mussolini
- Audience
- Enemy civilians
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Leader
- Benito Mussolini
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe, Poland, sygn. 1-E-209), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain per the holding archive (Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe), cited by Commons
Photographer unknown. Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (Poland), sygn. 1-E-209. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
[illegible]
[illegible]
A few small lines of lettering run down the banner beside the left-hand fasces and are not legible at this resolution. The credit strip along the bottom edge ('Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe, sygn. 1-E-209') belongs to the archive's scan, not to the photograph.
