Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso on
Monday ruled out the possibility that the House of Savoy's
desire to see Victor Emmanuel III buried in the Pantheon will be
granted as the controversy about the return from Egypt of the
body of Italy's penultimate king continued.
Representatives of Italy's Jewish community and partisan
association ANPI expressed dismay that a State flight was used
to bring back the body of the king, who signed the Fascist
racial laws targeting Jews, is accused of complicity with the
regime of Benito Mussolini and died in exile in 1947 in
Alexandria, Egypt.
Victor Emmanuel III's remains were interred on Sunday in the
Sanctuary of Vicoforte, a church in Piedmont of the House of
Savoy.
Members of the House of Savoy had said they would like him to
be buried in the Pantheon along with Italy's other monarchs.
"A mature, democratic country has to know how to face up to
its past," Grasso said.
"The responsibilities before, during and after Fascism and
the signing of the shameful racial laws do not allow for any
revisionism about the figure and actions of Victor Emmanuel III.
"The return of the body to Italy is a mere act of human
compassion without any public honour, as the possibility of a
burial in the Pantheon has been categorically excluded".
The President of Rome's Jewish Community, Ruth Dureghello,
had poured scorn on the idea of burying Victor Emmanuel III in
the Pantheon.
"I am convinced that the institutions will take the right
position on this," Dureghello.
"It would truly be a mockery to put the body near to the
place where so many Italian Jews were deported".
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