Hitler "a great statesman": Nazi scandal surrounding Meloni's party - shortly before the Italian elections
Created: 09/21/2022, 13:44
By: Tim Vincent Dicke
A member of the Fratelli d'Italia praised Adolf Hitler - and compared the dictator to party leader Giorgia Meloni.
The horror is great.
Rome – A few days before the parliamentary elections in Italy, a Nazi scandal has shaken the country, which has been plagued by constant political crises for decades.
Even the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party, which flirts with the fascist ruler Benito Mussolini and is ahead in recent election polls, said one member's statements went too far.
In 2014, Calogero Pisano, a Fratelli candidate in Sicily, compared party leader Giorgia Meloni to "a great statesman from 70 years ago" in a Facebook post.
Pisano noted that he was referring to a "German" and not Benito Mussolini - the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler who ruled Germany between 1933 and 1945.
Italy election: Fratelli d'Italia throw candidates out of the party
The Italian daily newspaper La Republicca
dug up the article eight years later
.
She also found another post in which Pisano expressed his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been waging a war of aggression in Ukraine since February 24.
Within hours, the party expelled its member with “immediate effect.”
"From this moment on, Pisano no longer represents the Brothers of Italy at any level and may no longer use the symbol," the statement read.
For further measures, Pisano is "referred to the party's supervisory board".
Giorgia Meloni and her Fratelli d'Italia party are ahead in the polls ahead of the Italian elections.
© Piero Cruciatti/AFP
Pisano himself regrets the statements, he said.
"Years ago I wrote things that were deeply wrong," he explained, adding, "I don't know how
La Repubblica
found the posts, but I unequivocally condemn these statements and apologize to anyone who was offended by them. "
"It's unacceptable": Jewish community in Italy appalled
The published posts caused a great outcry among Jews.
The president of Rome's Jewish community, Ruth Dureghello, wrote on the short message service Twitter: "It is unacceptable that someone who glorifies Hitler can sit in the next parliament." She had previously clearly criticized neo-Nazi statements by a candidate from another party.
"There can be no place for those who legitimize hate," said Dureghello.
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The Brothers of Italy were founded in 2012 and have their roots in the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI, in English: Italian Social Movement).
The MSI saw itself as a neo-fascist party and wanted to carry on the legacy of Benito Mussolini.
To this day, the party of nationalist Giorgia Meloni has a green, white and red flame in the party logo, which is strongly reminiscent of the symbolism from the fascist era.
Meloni's party is the strongest force according to polls
Experts are predicting a clear shift to the right in the September 25 elections in Italy.
Giorgia Meloni founded a block together with Silvio Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini's right-wing Lega.
The polls indicate that Melonis Fratelli could be the strongest single party.
The SWG Institute sees the party at 25 percent, and at Ipsos even 27 percent of those asked said they wanted to vote for the brothers of Italy.
The election campaign is heating up, so the visit to Germany by the social democratic candidate Enrico Letta caused a great stir.
(
tvd
)
