Italian Jews marked the 50th anniversary Sunday of the imposition of anti-Semitic laws by the fascist regime and the 45th anniversary of the Nazi deportation of the Jews of Rome.
Solemn ceremonies at the Campidoglio (the city hall) were attended by Giovanni Spadolini, president of the Italian Senate, and other leading political figures.
Prominent members of the Jewish community included Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff of Rome and Tullia Zevi, president of the organization of Italian Jewish communities.
The occasion served to rally Jewish protests against the upcoming visit here of Annelise Kappler, widow of a Nazi war criminal who ordered the massacre of dozens of people in the Ardeatine pits of Rome during the war.
Kappler, who arrives Saturday, is promoting her book, which denies the atrocities in Rome during the Nazi occupation.
“The Roman people should not allow it,” Toaff said on Italian television.
He said a two-day conference on the fascist racial laws would open here Monday. They were promulgated by Benito Mussolini to impress Hitler.
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