Roccella Reaches Out to Segre Following Auschwitz School Trips Controversy

Rome: Family Minister Eugenia Roccella on Monday contacted Holocaust survivor and Life Senator Liliana Segre to address concerns after Roccella was quoted regarding Italian school trips to Auschwitz. The statement suggested these trips were organized to associate anti-Semitism with Fascism, as reported by sources on Tuesday. Segre expressed her indignation at these remarks.

According to Ansa News Agency, Roccella is a member of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party. She was quoted saying that trips to Auschwitz “served to tell us that anti-Semitism was about the time of a precise era: fascism” and that this is why “they were encouraged and promoted.”

On Sunday, Roccella clarified that her comments had been misconstrued. She expressed her willingness to report to the parliamentary commission for combating intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism, and instigation to hatred and violence, which was established by Segre, to further elucidate her remarks.