Berlusconi 'a disgrace' for Mussolini praise on Holocaust Memorial Day
Former Italian prime minister condemned for praising fascist dictator who, anti-Semitic laws aside, ‘did well in so many other ways’
Silvio Berlusconi was accused of being a "disgrace" after choosing Holocaust Memorial Day to praise Italy's fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini.
Speaking to reporters at a commemoration event on Sunday, during which he appeared to fall asleep , Berlusconi said Mussolini's anti-Semitic race laws were the most blameworthy initiative of someone "who in so many other ways did well".
Italy "did not have the same responsibilities [for the Holocaust] as Germany" and Mussolini's co-operation with Hitler was "not entirely conscious at the start … It's difficult now to put yourself in the shoes of people who were making decisions at that time," said Berlusconi, who is campaigning for next month's elections at the head of a coalition that includes far-right politicians whose roots go back to Italy's old fascist party.
"Obviously the government of that time, out of fear that German power might lead to complete victory, preferred to ally itself with Hitler's Germany rather than opposing it," he said.
"As part of this alliance, there were impositions, including combating and exterminating Jews. The racial laws were the worst fault of Mussolini as a leader, who in so many other ways did well," he said.
His remarks, apparently intended to cut the ground from under the far right, prompted an outcry from other Italian politicians. The leader of the centre-left Democratic party (PD) in the lower house, Dario Franceschini, said they were a "disgrace and an insult to history and memory".
A PD spokesman, Marco Meloni, said: "Our republic is based on the struggle against Nazi fascism, and these are intolerable remarks which are incompatible with leadership of democratic political forces."
