Sunday, January 27, 2013

Berlusconi: "Racial laws biggest fault of Mussolini, who did well in other respects"


Well, I haven’t posted anything lately, but now I have something really valuable.
As you all know, today, 27th January, is the Holocaust Memorial Day.
Although generally we all tend to associate the tragedy of the Holocaust with Hitler’s Nazism, it is important to remember that Mussolini played an important role too.  Racial discrimination was imposed in Italy with the Racial Laws (Leggi Razziali) starting from 1938 for the first five years of Fascist rule. There were concentration camps in Italy, and even some really big ones.
Today, in occasion of the events taking place in Milan to mark the Memorial Day, Berlusconi made a surprise appearance.
Here is a part of his statement:

 “Today it is difficult to stand in the shoes of those who had to decide back then […] Italy, out of fear, preferred to join forces with Germany rather than to fight it, and the extermination of the Jews was imposed in that agreement. So the racial laws were the biggest fault of Mussolini, who actually did well in other respects”.

He then added:

“Italy does not have the same responsibilities that Germany has, even if there was a connivance that at the beginning wasn’t entirely conscious“

There are no words to comment what Berlusconi said. I think all I can do is apologise on his behalf.
I want to hope that his statements will at least remind us all, once again, how important it is not to forget such terrible things. 

Video (in Italian):


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