LAZIO PRESIDENT CLAUDIO Lotito says the club will take 200 fans every year to visit Auschwitz after images of Holocaust victim Anne Frank were used to offend hated rivals Roma.
Lotito made the announcement as he visited the Rome Synagogue two days after Lazio fans posted stickers of Frank in a Roma jersey alongside anti-semitic slogans during a Serie A game at the Stadio Olimpico.
“Most of our fans are with us against anti-semitism,” stressed Lotito as he brought a floral wreath to remember all victims of anti-semitism.
He explained that Lazio would also be undertaking a series of initiatives such as visits by players to schools to educate on respecting rules and stamping out racism and social barriers.
“Today we intend to reaffirm our position once again with this clear and unequivocal gesture — no one can use Lazio in this way,” said Lotito.
Sources close to the Jewish Community of Rome welcomed the idea of visiting Auschwitz as “positive and confirms that in addition to the gesture, there is a need for concrete initiatives concerning the world of football, sport and government”.
The photos and stickers of Frank — the Jewish teenager who died in Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen in 1945 — were stuck on glass barriers during the 3-0 win over Cagliari and were discovered by staff after the game.
The incident led to widespread condemnation with Italian president Sergio Mattarella deploring the use of an image of Frank, whose “story of suffering and death by Nazi barbarians moved the world”.
“Using her image as an insult and threat, as well as being inhumane, is alarming for our country which suffered 80 years ago from the cruelty of anti-semitism.”
Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni added: “It is something incredible, unacceptable, not to be minimised and not to be underestimated. We do not underestimate the risks of tension spreading through our social fabric.”
Meanwhile, European Parliament chief Antonio Tajani condemned the use of Frank’s photo “to offend the fans of another team”.
“The Jewish communities are part of our Union,” Tajani said in Strasbourg. “I’m proud of having fellow Jewish citizens.”
“Anti-semitism must remain just a horrible experience of our past, an experience for the last century that has come to an end.”
Rome police and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) are probing the incidents which FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio said “offend a community and all of our country”.
But Lazio’s ‘Irriducibili’ fan group refused to distance themselves, stating they were surprised by the furore.
We are surprised by such a response from the media,” a statement read. “Everything should be mitigated by the context.
“There have been other cases which, in our opinion, should deserve much more attention by newspapers and TV.
“We don’t distance ourselves from what we’ve done, we simply wonder why nobody takes our side when we are the victims of these alleged incidents.
“We wonder why nobody talked about our initiatives to remember the victims of terrorism. We think these moves are oriented to block and boycott Lazio’s growth, as they’re one of the best Serie A teams.”
Bitter city rivals Roma and Lazio will meet in the Roman derby on 18 November.
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@Michael Hunt: Utter lies.
No part of the original Anne Frank diary is written in ballpoint pen. Absolutely none of it.
There are two pages inserted in the pages of the diary that contain ballpoint annotations, which were added in 1960 by a graphological researcher (guess what, ballpoint pens existed then).
Do your homework before you go spouting off like that, it’s painful to read. Scarlet for you.
@Michael Hunt: Sounds like the words of someone whom denies the Holocaust. Your name is very apt.
http://www.annefrank.org/ImageVaultFiles/id_14671/cf_21/tenquestions_en.PDF
She does look a little bit like Totti…
Lovely carry on from the Alt-Right in Italy.
@Cultural Marxist: crazy
Disgusting act by the Lazio ultras.
@Jamie McCormack: Road trip for the lads. Gives them a chance to have some argy-bargy with their Polish counterparts
@Jamie McCormack: yes
@Michael Hunt: I didn’t know she had dairies. That’s a lovely thought- although if they were a hoax, as you say, perhaps they produced almond milk? Almonds cannot give milk as everyone knows.
@Michael Hunt: yes that’s right Michael, WWII never happened, this country is run by aliens and the world is just 400 years old. Reality has been replaced by “it says it on Michael Hunts Facebook feed”.
There are good people on both sides…
@Michael Hunt: Cool story dude
@Malachi: Spare us all your sanctimonious claptrap.
The Basel, Switzerland, Anne Frank Fonds (Anne Frank Fund), which controls the copyright to the Diary of Anne Frank, has admitted that the book was in fact at least co-authored by Otto Frank, Anne’s father, after the war.
The admission proves that the book, which is still heavily promoted as a “holocaust memoir”, is in fact largely a postwar fabrication which contained parts of the young Anne’s diary with extensive additions added by her father. Normal copyright on books extends only 70 years after the author’s death. As Anne Frank died of typhus in Bergen Belsen in February 1945, the book theoretically entered the public domain in February 2015. But, as the New York Times went on to say, the Anne Frank Fonds has now decided to try to extend copyright on the book past the 70 year cut-off period by admitting that Otto Frank, who died in 1980, was indeed a “co-author” after all.
Argue with them if you must!
@Michael Hunt: I agree with you 100% Michael. The stories of her dairy farming are a total hoax. If you’re going to be an ass, at least do a spell check first.
@Michael Hunt:
That copied & pasted block of text you just posted seems to have originated from the hysterical white supremacist ‘newobserveronline’ blog (where they have really great articles titles like “Scientists Find that Nazis were Correct about Heredity and Criminality”… lol).
Except your little excerpt is just full of lies, as is to be expected. Otto Frank is recognised as a co-author for copyright reasons, yes, but it’s because he transcribed, compiled and merged the contents of her diary, not because the work is fabricated by him. The AFF want to extend their copyright over the work – it’s not an ‘admission’ by them that he wrote anything in the diary, show me any such statement. You can’t, because it doesn’t exist.
@Michael Hunt: Couldn’t help but look up your fb profile, how ironic that like a lot of hypocrites, you proclaim yourself pro-life, shame on you, heartless, Nazi, racist bigot.
@AJ McLaughlin:
So quoting contrived jewish propaganda is your valid objection? Speaks volumes!
@Michael Hunt: Talking from the orifice of your lower digestive tract.
@Michael Hunt: The substance of your argument? You didn’t have an argument – you just quoted a fabricated piece of nonsense and you were called out for it.
Would you like to explain why you fell for such a vile lie? Any normal human being would be utterly ashamed of themselves if they knew they’d just blurted out a piece of baseless anti-semitic propaganda on a public forum.
@Conor Kennelly:
Refusing to accept unsubstantiated jewish propaganda from WW2 does not make anyone a heartless, a Nazi or a bigot. But how typical of the brainwashed ignorant to attack the messenger rather than the substance of their argument!
Knuckle heads
@Michael Hunt: You are a silly racist clown who hasn’t got a clue.