Italian officials ordered the suspension of the construction of monument for  Rodolfo Graziani.

The order was issued by Nicola Zingaretti, a politician from a left leaning party and who was elected as president of the Lazio Region last February.

Read below a news story and text of the press release by Italy’s Lazio Region president.

(Both are from Italian media translated by google and further edited to make them comprehensible.)

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Lazio region President Nicola Zingaretti against the Graziani monument

There will be no financing for Affile municipality, Lazio Region, for the erection of  monument in honor of the Minister of the Republic of Salò Rodolfo Graziani.

Nicola Zingaretti has put an end to the storm of controversy raised by the work, which was the subject of many acts of boycott. Controversy that had created outrage in Italy, especially in the Jewish community and former partisans, but they had gone beyond the borders of the country, appearing on the pages of the New York Times, the Pais and the BBC – calling on the Italian government to remove it.

Zingaretti has accused the administration of Affile to have used “improperly” 180 thousand euro, so it cost the mausoleum, which was originally intended for the realization of a monument to the soldier. “It is a clear violations of the use of public funding,” said the president of the region.

Therefore, funding will be suspended until “the restoration of the original project proposal”. That is, structural changes to the monument, as agreed originally to be titled ‘the unknown soldier’, by removing any reference to Rodolfo Graziani and deleting this provocation.”

Zingaretti said. “Graziani has been judged by history, for war crimes committed during colonial aggression against Ethiopia,” he stressed, “for his unequivocal support to the fascist regime and the continuation of the war on the side of Nazi Germany until the last day in the Republic of Salò and convinced his contribution to the civil war against the Resistance, which never took exception and that earned him a sentence of 19 years in prison on charges of collaborating. “

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Press statement by Nicola Zingaretti, President of Lazio region

I asked the regional offices to suspend the fund granted to the City of Affile, originally intended to “Rodimonte completion of the Park” and the “realization of a monument to the soldier,” that is to the unknown soldier. The City improperly then decided to dedicate it to Rodolfo Graziani.

Aside from the obvious violations compared to the use of public funding, our administration does not avallerà never any attempt to distortion or falsification of historical memory, especially in the case of a figure like that of General Graziani, on which history has already issued by time his judgments: for war crimes committed during colonial aggression against Ethiopia, with the use of gas, indiscriminate bombings and reprisals against the civilian population, with the construction of concentration camps, with imprisonment forced the nomadic populations, for its unequivocal support to the fascist regime and the continuation of the war next to Nazi Germany until the last day in the Republic of Salò, for his contribution convinced the civil war against the Resistance, which never distanced himself and that earned him a sentence of 19 years in prison on charges of collaborating, and remained pending his past in Africa and allegations of crimes against humanity addressed to him by many.

As early as six months ago, when I was not yet president of the region, I had asked a step back.

At this point we can only take note of the blatant illegality of the conduct of the town of Affile, suspending the payment of the balance of 180 thousand euro for the construction work until the restoration of the project proposal originally funded. This means to make structural changes to the monument and call it as originally agreed “the soldier”, by removing any reference to Rodolfo Graziani and deleting this provocation, which represents not only a wrongful act from the standpoint of legal and administrative framework, but an unacceptable aggression against the freedom, democracy and the memory of all Italians. “

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Related (in this blog):
* Foreign Minister calls for condemnation of Graziani memorial (April 2013)
* Italy honors Fascist War Criminal infuriating Ethiopians (Sept. 2012)