The Union of the Italian Jewish Communities stated:
\n\u201cThe crimes of fascism and King Vittorio Emanuele III\u2019s signatures on the racial laws constituted an abomination, a tragic offence in Italian history and they\u2019ll serve as an admonition for generations to come. The republican Constitution reminds us this so clearly, and its very existence is the most eloquent condemnation of that period, of the regime and its leaders.
\nToday, after 82 years, the king\u2019s descendant, his great-grand-son Emanuele Filiberto expresses his sentiment of disavowal and condemnation of the events. It\u2019s a very generous period of time, so one might ask, why now?
\nIt\u2019s a personal choice anyway, everyone answering for their deeds and to their own conscience.
\nNeither the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities nor any Jewish Community can in any way grant forgiveness on behalf of all the Jews who were discriminated, denounced, deported and exterminated. In Judaism, even the perpetrator of the offense can\u2019t ask forgiveness to God if first, perceiving the insult and the guilt, did not apologize to the offended party.
\nThe moral condemnation of the regime and of his deeds \u2013 that Emanuele Filiberto pronounced for the first time today \u2013 has been a waving flag and a torch in the fight for survival for thousands of Jews, resistance fighters and staunch anti-fascists, many of whom have sacrificed their life for their homeland.
\nFor the six million Jews exterminated in concentration camps, the imprisoned Italian soldiers, the politically persecuted, Gypsies and Sinti, disabled people and homosexuals: it\u2019s to honor their memory that any nostalgia for that regime must be sternly fought and stemmed. The condemnation \u2013 and not an apology to rehabilitate the family name \u2013 must be directed towards the young men and women of Italy, of that Europe that gather us in accordance with fundamental human values, so that they will claim the strongest \u201cnever again\u201d.
\nWe acknowledge the consternation and repentance recently expressed through media, ahead of the 27th January. We shall see what concrete daily actions will consequently follow and be an example for the future.<\/p>\n
The Jewish Community in Rome commented:
\n\u201cWe take notice of Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy\u2019s declarations. The dramatic relationship with the House of Savoy is well-known throughout history and memory. What happened with the racial laws, at the apex of a long-standing collaboration with a dictatorship, is an offense to Italians, whether they are Jews or not, that cannot be forgotten or erased. The silence on these events from that House descendants, lasted more than eighty years, and it\u2019s an ulterior aggravating circumstance. The victims\u2019 descendants have no authority to forgive, nor does it pertain to Jewish institutions to rehabilitate people and events on which History\u2019s judgement is embedded in our country history.<\/p>\n
Translated by Silvia Bozzo, student at theAdvanced School for Interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"