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Ignazio La Russa takes over the country’s second-highest office. The memorable session was chaired by a Holocaust survivor.
Who is Ignazio La Russa? La Russa is now the head of the Italian Senate, taking on the second highest office in Italy – after the President. La Russa is a member of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia, which will also provide Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. His full name suits his attitude: Ignazio Benito Maria La Russa.
He was born in 1947. Matthias Rüb, Italy correspondent for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, explains: “Because two years after the end of the fascist regime he still baptized Benito (after the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, editor’s note). one can see that there is a tradition that has not completely broken with the fascist regime».
Legend:
Ignazio La Russa was elected President of the Italian Senate.
KEYSTONE/AP Photo/Plinio Lepri
How can a post-fascist become the second most powerful man in Italy? Correspondent Rüb says: “Unlike in Germany, there was no thorough reappraisal of the fascist dictatorship in Italy.” The Ventennio Fascista – the two decades of fascism – is still viewed somewhat nostalgically by many Italians.
Unlike in Germany, there was no thorough reappraisal of the fascist dictatorship in Italy.
The following points are often referred to: the trains are punctual, the streets were not dirty, Mussolini introduced the general pension insurance and drained the Pontine Marshes. Rüb describes this as “historical lies” because “all these approaches existed before Mussolini,” according to the correspondent. Mussolini merely continued these projects.
Doesn’t Italy have an explicitly anti-fascist constitution? The courts have rarely enforced criminalization of the justification of fascism, says the correspondent. “Just like politicians, the courts made sure that the neo-fascists were not isolated but integrated.”
Legend:
Liliana Segre, 92, opened the session in the Italian Parliament.
Imago/ANSA/ALESSANDRO DI MEO ROMA
Why did a Holocaust survivor chair the Senate session? Liliana Segre is a senator for life. She was the only one of her family to survive the Auschwitz concentration camp. Segre is 92 years old and the oldest member of parliament to chair the session. She made an emotional appeal to her colleagues to speak out against hate and exclusion. Segre received several standing ovations from the plenary. “She was a clear reminder of the struggle democracy had to wage against fascism in order to stabilize itself,” says Rüb.
Why didn’t Forza Italia choose La Russa? Giorgia Meloni and her party cut the two political alpha animals together – Silvio Berlusconi from Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini from the Lega, says Rüb. The two now had to submit to a woman. But both expected that they will continue to have a lot of influence. They speculate on important positions in the cabinet.