Italian minister Roccella under fire from Holocaust survivor for remarks over Shoah

 ROME – Eugenia Roccella, Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family, has drawn criticism from Holocaust survivors and political opposition alike after suggesting school trips to Auschwitz are only used to promote anti-fascism and present antisemitism as solely occurring under fascism, while speaking in front the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) on Sunday.

 Minister Roccella, who is a member of ruling "post-Fascist" party, Fratelli d’Italia, remarked that "trips" to Auschwitz “only serve to tell us that antisemitism was something that belonged to a time now consigned to history and confined to a specific area: fascism” when speaking at a UCEI conference in Rome. She doubled down on her remarks, saying that the trips to Auschwitz are promoted to portray antisemitism as “a fascist issue and nothing more,” thus suggesting to children that "the real issue was being anti-fascist" and promoting anti-fascism instead of antisemitism. 

 Continuing, Minister Roccella said that Italy has not “fully come to terms with” antisemitism. Citing the ongoing Israeli Palestinian conflict for increasing antisemitism in Italy, Roccella said that antisemitism is “re-emerging” and being “re-legitimised”, referencing comments made in Parliament by Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, that antisemitism is "strongly" on the rise. She further criticised the way in which people are using the word “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza, saying that “throwing [the word genocide] back in the faces of those who have a well-documented and precise historical experience of genocide, is truly shocking”. 

  These remarks drew criticism from Holocaust survivor and life senator, Liliana Segre, who attacked Roccella for her portrayal of “educational trips” to Auschwitz as “excursions”. She stressed that “the education of our children and grandchildren must begin with the knowledge of history”, which is heightened through trips to Auschwitz. Segre noted that the Nazis “with the zealous collaboration of local fascists, including those of the Italian RSI” created a “colossal industry of death” to “wipe” minorities “off the face of the earth.”

  Despite this criticism, Segre previously has publicly shared Roccella's sentiment that the word "genocide" is being misused in relation to Gaza and said "the instrumental accusation of genocide projects the image of absolute evil onto the entire State of Israel and the entire Israeli people". 

 Roccella has also drawn criticism from the leader of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, who has called on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “to clearly distance herself from this unspeakable statement."

 On Sunday, Roccella said her comments were misconstrued and she is ready to refer herself to the parliamentary commission created by Segre for combatting intolerance, racism and antisemitism, in order to clarify her words.

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