Gazette Vita: A funeral in Rome caused a scandal. The Nazi flag was draped on the coffin in front of the Santa Lucia al Trionfale. A Nazi salute from the mass followed. All this happened during the funeral of Alessia Augello, a member of the neo-Nazi Forza Nuova party, where the far right is on the rise. The distraught Catholic Church, the diocese of Rome, commented: “A terrible symbol, irreconcilable with Christ, with Christianity”.

Outside the church of Santa Lucia on the Clodia ring road, a coffin covered with the Nazi flag stands with open arms: “Now!” surrounded by a crowd of people screaming. when one of them says the name of the deceased. An online video immortalizes the funeral of the 44-year-old Forza Nuova militant Alessia Augello, known as ‘Tugsy’, goes on record. About 20 Forza Nuova members they wrap the coffin in the Nazi flag with the ‘swastika’ on it. And then the crowd gathered for the funeral, raising their hands to make the Nazi salute. Thus, the meaning of luck and auspiciousness of the swastika, which was used in the course of human history, it is shrouded in darkness, and then transforms itself into a symbol that brings to mind bad racist, genocidal and indelible moments. And with the investigation started thanks to the video, we begin to determine the identity of who has signed this grotesque black show.

Catholic Church: “A terrible icon!”

The Roman Diocese of the Catholic Church, in a statement regarding the images, stressed that the religious officials who handled the funeral have nothing to do with this event that took place outside the church, while the Nazi flag was called “a terrible a symbol that cannot be associated with Christianity “. It was pointed out that what they described as “ideological and violent exploitation” was unacceptable to them.

Jewish community

In the statement made by the Jewish community of Rome, he first of all stressed that it is terrible that this event took place in front of a church. Condemning the fact that such incidents could occur nearly 70 years after World War II and the collapse of the fascist dictatorship in Italy, the statement stated: “It is not acceptable for a swastika flag to be displayed to the public at this time, especially in a a city that has witnessed the deportation of Jews by the Nazis and their fascist collaborators, you can’t.” were deported, most of them sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Only 16 of these people had returned. After the raid on the Jewish quarter of Rome, capital of Italy, on October 16, 1943, more of 1,000 Jews were deported, most of them sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Only 16 of these people had returned.

Swastika…

Everywhere we see it, the swastika, which brings bad times to our eyes, was a figure used for some 5,000 years before Adolf Hitler designed the Nazi flag. The swastika (swastika) comes from the Sanskrit word “svastika” which means “good luck” or “goodness”. This motif (the swastika) first seen in Neolithic Eurasia is thought to represent the movement of the sun in the sky. It has been used as a sacred symbol in belief systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Oynism to this day. It is still seen in temples and homes in India and Indonesia. The discovery by the famous archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann of Crusader objects with Trojan excavation hooks has led to new data on this symbol. Schliemann suggested that this symbol was the “religious symbol of our distant ancestors” by linking similar shapes on pottery found in Germany.

The swastika began to be used widely in Europe in the early 20th century. In addition to being known as a symbol of luck and good luck, it also had many other meanings. However, Schliemann’s work was soon embraced by movements that saw the swastika as a symbol of “Aryan identity” and German nationalism. The Nazi party adopted the swastika or Hakenkreuz (Alm., Swastika) as an official symbol in 1920, due to the idea that the German people were the Aryan cultural heritage. However, the Nazi party is not the only party in Germany to use the swastika. After World War I, some far-right and nationalist movements also used the swastika. It was because they associated the swastika with racial purity. With the coming to power of the Nazis in Germany, the meaning of the swastika changed forever. Adolf Hitler writes in his book Mein Kampf: “After numerous personal trials, I have decided on the following. A white circle on a red background and a black swastika within this white circle. Again, after long tests, I determined a certain relationship between the size of the flag and the white circle and the shape and thickness of the swastika. As Hitler stated in Mein Kampf, the swastika on the flag, election posters, bracelets, medals and badges produced for the army and other institutions have become the image of Nazi propaganda. A source of pride among the Aryans, the swastika was a powerful symbol that instilled fear in Jews and the enemies of Nazi Germany. The swastika is so closely associated with Nazi Germany that the use of this symbol of different origins today is often controversial. As happened last time in Rome…