Almerigo Grilz

Almerigo Grilz ( Born March 11, 1953 – Died, May 19, 1987) was an Italian right wing politician, and an independent war correspondent.

He was born in Trieste, then Zone A of the Free Territory of Trieste, now part of Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. During his youth, he was a leader of the nationalist right wing Youth Front (Fronte della gioventù) and then of the Italian Social Movement – National Right of Trieste. He was also a member of the City Council of Trieste. In 1977, Almerigo Grilz was the leader of Trieste section of the Youth Front, becoming the Deputy National Secretary by a direct appointment of then secretary Gianfranco Fini. During this time he was also a member of the Journalist order of Trieste and cooperated with the Dissenso, the official journal of the Youth Front.

Politician and war journalist

Beside politics, Grilz was involved in journalism, especially as freelance war correspondent. In the mid-1980s he became a full-time freelance war journalist, resigning his seat in the Trieste City Council. His job kept him away from home for 10 months a year. He witnessed all the conflicts from mid 70’s, from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan to the Israeli’s operation in Lebanon; the conflicts between Druses and Christian Maronites; and the Myanmar-Thailand border war between Keren minority and Myanmar regulars. His reportages were sold all over the world and bought by CBS, France 3 and NBC. These important networks would subsequently hire Grilz as correspondent in other parts of the world. On a direct NBC request Grilz followed the Communist Philippine Guerrilla and the elections that led to the fall of the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the subsequent election of Corazon Aquino.

The Albatros press agency

In 1983 together with Gian Micalessin and Fausto Biloslavo, he founded the “Albatros Press Agency”. This agency would produce reportages, documentaries and articles, from every part of the world, where revolutions and war were fought. The agency sold a lot of its productions to foreign television networks, in particular in US and UK; also in Italy Albatros managed to sell its products to important networks, such as the Panorama weekly magazine and the Italian 1st TV channel news or TG Uno, this despite the high prejudice of the major Italian network for those who were considered culturally close to the MSI-DN right-wing party.

Death

On May 19, 1987 in Mozambique, while witnessing a battle between “Renamo’s” militiamen and the regular Army, Grilz was struck by a stray bullet in the head. His body was never recovered and buried close to where he was killed by, an English free-lance reporter. The news of Almerigo Griltz’s death, due to the prejudice, did not echo loudly in the Italian press world. Only in the late 1990s he would be listed as an Italian press agent, fallen in war zone.^[1] The “ Unità” the communist official newspaper wrote of the death of a “mercenary” when reported to Grilz's death. An exception was Tg Uno which, thanks to Paolo Frajese, remembered Grilz even against the opinion of directors; Renato Farina, a writer for the weekly magazine “Il Sabato”, and Ettore Mo, also a special correspondent in the hot spots for the major Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” and a fellow journalist who went to various world hot spots, remembered the death and life of Almerigo Grilz. The name of Almerigo Grilz has been immortalized on the “Reporters sans frontiers " Monument in Normandy, dedicated to all the fallen war journalists.^[2] The city of Trieste has named a street in his honor.

Micalessin Documentary Of Grilz' Death

In 2002 Micalessin, a co-founder with Griltz of the Press Agency Albatros, longed to see the place where Grilz lived his last moments. Being also keen to know the whereabouts of his remains, he realized a TV Documentary in which he included the last scenes shot by Grilz just before his death.

References

Italian Television reportage “ Terra” by Tony Capuozzo dedicated a story on Grilz on May 20, 2007.