Jewish groups condemn sale of Mussolini speeches for Apple iPhone

01 February 2010

Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors have protested to the Apple computer company for allowing a collection of speeches by the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini to be marketed for its iPhone. Since it was launched ten days ago, ‘iMussolini’ – which sells for US$ 1.10 on the Italian iTunes store – has become the bestselling application in Italy for Apple’s iPhone. The creator of the application, 25-year-old Luigi Marino, told reporters over the weekend that it had already been downloaded 6,000 times since its launch. The ‘app’ contains audio, video and text of more than 100 speeches made by Benito Mussolini.

The Fascist leader came to power in 1922. Under his rule, Italy became a close ally of Nazi Germany and Mussolini's regime introduced harsh anti-Semitic legislation in 1938.

"It is a disgrace and a surrender to crass commercialism that the Apple computing company has approved the release of this 'app' through their online iTunes store," Elan Steinberg, vice-president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, said in a statement. "We are protesting to them as their tight regulation and control of release of such apps makes them responsible. This is an insult to the memory of all victims of Nazism and Fascism, Jew and non-Jew, and should be condemned for its offense to decency and conscience."

Tullia Zevi, the former president of the Jewish community in Rome, said the ‘app’ was part of the "the slide towards legitimizing fascism and the rehabilitation of Mussolini".

Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the dictator and a leading far-right politician in Italy, defended the sale: “Whether you like it or not, my grandfather's speeches are part of history."

 

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WJC and Anti-Semitism