Gaetano Martino (25 November 1900 – 21 July 1967) was an Italian politician, physician, and university teacher.
Early life and medicine
Gaetano Martino was born in 1900 in Messina, Sicily, son of its MayorAntonino Martino. He graduated in medicine to the Sapienza University of Rome in 1923. He worked as physician for Saint-Antoine Hospital in Paris.[1] In 1934, he became teacher to the University of Messina, and later was also dean of the University from 1943 to 1954. From 1966 to 1967, Martino was also dean of the Sapienza University of Rome.
In 1956, the newspaper La Repubblica published an article where Martino said that investigations on the German war crimes in Italy during World War II would have a negative impact on the Germany's integration in Europe, like an internal disapprove of the NATO. In 1994, with discovery in a military base of an armoire with secret documents on Nazi war crimes in Italy, nickname "Armoire of Shame" ("Armadio della Vergogna"), emerged that Martino blocked the investigations to avoid a German isolation during Cold War.[4]
Later life
For his role in the European integration, Martino was elected President of the European Parliament in 1962. He also continued to serve as Deputy in the Italian Chamber until his death on July 1967.