«The trips to Auschwitz, in my opinion, were a way of repeating that anti-Semitism was simply a fascist issue.»

Controversy erupted over the remarks of Family Minister Eugenia Roccella at the UCEI conference "History Upended and the Future to Be Built," held at the National Council for Economic and Social Work (CNEL) in Rome.

"Anti-Semitism," Meloni's government representative reasoned, "has found justification in the final phase of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for its resurgence and re-legitimization. The relish with which the word genocide is used, throwing it back in the faces of those with well-documented and precise experience of the genocide, is truly shocking. Anti-Semitism in our country hasn't been fully addressed. All those school trips to Auschwitz—what were they? Were they trips? What purpose did they serve? They served, in my opinion, they were encouraged and valued, because they actually served the opposite purpose. That is, they served to tell us that anti-Semitism was something that concerned a time now established in history, and located in a specific area: fascism." "And so the problem," he added, "was being anti-fascist, not being anti-Semitic."

"So, I think the problem today is to come to terms with our anti-Semitism, to come to terms with our past without deluding ourselves that everything was refined in a single historical era and political area, something I find difficult to sustain, " Roccella reiterated.

Among the first reactions was that of Senator for Life and Auschwitz survivor Liliana Segre : "I find it hard to believe that a minister of the Republic, after calling the educational trips to Auschwitz "excursions," could say they were encouraged to spur anti-fascism. Whose fault would be? During the Second World War, throughout Europe occupied by the Axis powers, the Nazis, with the zealous collaboration of local fascists—including the Italian fascists of the RSI—created a colossal industry of death to wipe Jews, Roma, Sinti, and other minorities from the face of the earth. The education of our children and grandchildren must begin with a knowledge of history. The memory of historical truth only harms those who keep skeletons in their closets ."

"Minister Roccella is always wrong," laments Riccardo Magi, secretary of Più Europa. "Not only does he offer a biased and provincial interpretation of the memory of the Holocaust, including through school trips to concentration camps, but he also seems to belittle the role of Nazism and Fascism, which a century ago planned the deliberate extermination of the Jews in Europe . Roccella shouldn't be fooled: it is also in the memory of the Holocaust and the rejection of fascism, thanks precisely to initiatives such as visits to Auschwitz, that the younger generations have developed a firm opposition to the Gaza massacre and a rejection of war in all its forms. And it is precisely thanks to the awareness that this horror occurred with the complicity of the societies of the time that people today take to the streets and say 'never again'."

(Unioneonline/D)

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