Members of a commission which selected a vicious anti-Semitic literary text for use by candidates taking state examinations in Rome have resigned “after expressing their regret for the-deplorable incident,” Luigi Gui, the Italian Public Education Minister, announced today.
The announcement followed a strong protest by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities. The commission, made up of three professors, chose from thousands of available literary works an 18th Century statement by Gustave Becquer which the Union said was saturated with contempt for Jews and likely to arouse hatred against them. The examination requires a translation from the Spanish into Italian.
The three educators, in announcing their resignation, told the press that their choice of the Becquer piece was made in error and that they were “supporters of democratic and anti-racist ideas.”
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