Via Rasella, La Russa swerves and unleashes a political storm. Then he apologizes

The worst patch in the hole. To put it, in an attempt to defend the words of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the Fosse Ardeatine (“killed only because they are Italian”), is the president of the Senate. “Via Rasella was not a glorious page of the Resistance,” he says Ignatius LaRussa. «Those whom the partisans killed were not sinister Nazis of the SS but a musical band of semi-retired people, from South Tyrol (at that time half German, half Italian), knowing full well the risk of retaliation to which they exposed Roman citizens, anti-fascists and non-fascists », he adds. A reading of the facts that unleashes chaos in the political world, but also in the Jewish community and in the PNA. And which then leads to a note of apology, signed by La Russa himself.

The statements

La Russa considers the attack on the premier a few days ago a “specious attack”. “When you say” killed because Italians “you know very well that those Italians had been killed in retaliation for what the partisans had done in via Rasella”, reconstructs the second state office. “Everyone knows that the Nazis murdered political prisoners, Jews, anti-fascists and people rounded up at random, obviously not people who worked with them.” And therefore, she continues, «if you have to enclose them in a single word, you say “because they are Italians”. You can’t make a scandal out of it », according to the president of the Senate, who is not flustered by the criticisms raining down from the opposition. And in the evening, indeed, he confirms «word for word my very harsh condemnation of the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine which only a few days ago I defined as “one of the most brutal pages of our history”. I also confirm that the hateful Nazi retaliation was triggered by the killing of a band of Nazi South Tyroleans and I stress that this action has not been defined by me as “inglorious” but as “among the least glorious of the Resistance”».

And since La Russa doesn’t mind slipping into the thickets, the day passes with the opposition claiming the impossibility for the co-founder of the Brothers of Italy, together with the current prime minister, to hold the prestigious institutional role. All the more less than a month after that April 25th that La Russa recalls having celebrated in the past also as «defense minister», bringing flowers «to all the partisans, even the red ones who, as is known, did not want an Italy free and democratic, but communist”. The first to go on a rampage are the representatives of the PNA. The president Gianfranco Pagliarulo attacks the reasoning of the president of the Senate: “Words unworthy for the high office he holds” and again, “yet another, very serious tear aimed at absolving fascism and delegitimizing the Resistance”. Ruth Dureghello, president of the Jewish community of Rome, replies: “They weren’t musicians, but soldiers of the SS who occupied the country with the complicity of the fascists and who deported the Jews to extermination camps.” And therefore “long live the partisans who risked their lives to restore freedom and sovereignty to Italy”.

He wants to avoid being dragged into an endless controversy, but the secretary of the Pd Elly Schlein dismisses the “indecent words, unacceptable for the role he covers” the president of the Senate. And following the dem leader is the whole party, from the new group leaders to Filippo Sensi who, he says, “as a senator and, even before that, as a citizen and as an Italian, I am ashamed”. “Intolerable words”, defines them Chiara Braga, president of the dem deputies. For Marco Furfaro it is “the umpteenth attempt to rewrite history”. While for the third pole, Carlo Calenda ironizes: «I am admired by the determination with which La Russa is managing to demonstrate his inadequacy as president of the Senate every day». The 5 stars agree, even if the group leader in the Chamber Francesco Silvestri invites us to be careful of the “clear attempt to distract public opinion from the inadequacies of this government”.

Finally, apologies: I was wrong

Finally, with a note signed today, La Russa apologised: “I was wrong in not pointing out that the Germans killed in via Rasella were Nazi soldiers, but I thought it was obvious and obvious as well as well-known. I don’t know if the news is actually wrong, published several times and taken for granted by me, that the South Tyrolean reservists employed in the German police were also part of the military band of the corps”. And she added: “With the exception of the people who have commented speciously and in bad faith, I want instead to apologize to those who, even on the strength of inaccurate reports, have nevertheless found reasons to feel offended”.

In the note, the president of the Senate began: “I sincerely regret that in the context of a long interview given to Libero, following my few words in response to a precise question on the specious criticisms addressed to Giorgia Meloni on the occasion of the celebrations for the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine – in which I have repeatedly participated with deep indignation and emotion – a wider controversy than the one I wanted to close has arisen”. And he continued: «What is certain is that precisely to avoid controversy, I deliberately refrained from saying that many, including those on the left, were highly critical of the partisan action in via Rasella. I limited myself to saying: ‘it was not one of the most glorious pages of the partisan Resistance’».