Priebke invited to judge pageant

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Published: 05/11/2008

Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke reportedly was invited to judge a local beauty pageant.

News reports over the weekend said Claudio Marini, the organizer of the "Star of the Year" beauty contest, had invited the former SS officer to be on its jury.

Newly elected Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno called the idea "crazy."

Priebke, 95, is serving a life sentence under house arrest for his part in the World War II massacre of 335
men and boys at the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome.

Marini was quoted as saying he did not invite Priebke as a publicity stunt but as part of a "process of pacification."

"Speculating on the macabre notoriety of a war criminal is really the opposite of a beauty contest," Renzo Gattegna, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, told the daily Corriere della Sera.
"And to this is added the cynicism of never considering the pain of the families of the victims."

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