– Berlusconi defends Mussolini on Holocaust Remembrance Day, sparks outrage (RT, Jan 28, 2013):
Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi defended Italian fascist leader, Benito Mussolini as he spoke at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony. Other than passing ‘racial laws’ the Italian dictator “did good” in many ways, he said, provoking outrage.
Berlusconi, currently the leader of the center-right People of Freedom party, didn’t think twice as he defended one of the key figures of fascism on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
He went as far as to advocate Mussolini’s alliance with Hitler, implying the dictator had little choice.
“Certainly the government then, fearing that German power would turn into a general victory, preferred to be allied with Hitler’s Germany rather than oppose it,” Berlusconi said, adding that it’s difficult to judge such actions without putting yourself “in the shoes of who was making decisions back then.”
It is through this alliance that the anti-Jewish laws had to be imposed, Berlusconi added, placing the blame on Germany’s Nazi regime. “Thus, the racial laws are the worst fault of Mussolini, who, in so many other aspects, did good,” Berlusconi said.
Read moreSilvio Berlusconi Defends Benito Mussolini On Holocaust Remembrance Day