The speaker of the Italian Parliament, Gianfranco Fini, has sparked controversy by criticizing the Catholic Church and Italian society of the 1930s for failing to act on behalf of Italian Jews during the Holocaust. "We must ask ourselves why Italian society embraced the anti-Jewish legislation and why, beyond certain laudable exceptions, there were not demonstrations of real resistance," Fini said. Even the Catholic Church had failed to protest the laws, Fini added. 'Vatican Radio' later issued a statement in the Church's defense. Fini made his controversial remarks during a ceremony marking seventy years since anti-Semitic race laws were enacted in Italy. Most of Italy's Jews were deported during the Holocaust, and many were murdered in Nazi death camps.
The 1938 laws led to the deportation of thousands of Jews to Nazi death camps. Adopted by Italy's fascist leader Benito Mussolini they also prevented Jews from holding posts as civil servants or teachers. Fini's remarks caused a certain surprise in part because he had begun his political career in a neo-fascist party supportive of policies similar to those promoted by the Hitler ally Mussolini.
