ROME | Italy’s complicated history with its fascist past has bubbled to the surface again after police uncovered a plot to create a new neo-Nazi political party, uncovering a cache of weapons, swastika-clad paraphernalia, and even plans for the crowning of a “Miss Adolf Hitler” beauty queen.
Under Benito Mussolini, Italy was a pioneer of the fascist ideology in Europe and an early ally of Germany’s Nazi government. But the leader known in Italy as “Il Duce” — The Leader — was overthrown midway through World War II and eventually executed after his regime collapsed. Though the Nazis for a time propped up Mussolini as the leader of a puppet state based in the northern part of current-day Italy, popular opinion had turned against him and by the end of the war Italian troops fought alongside soldiers from the U.S. and other Allied forces.
“Italy has a convoluted history when it comes to fascism and the extreme right,” said Arianna Montanari, a professor of sociology of political phenomena at Rome’s La Sapienza University. “There has always been a small percentage of the population that subscribed to fascist views. The difference is that now there is no longer any embarrassment about it. Some of these groups have great public pride in their beliefs.”
Like a number of European countries, Italy has seen a sharp rise in support for nationalist, anti-immigration parties in the face of a rising tide of immigrant flows from the Middle East, Afghanistan and northern Africa. While conservative populist parties have surged across the continent, so has a more far-right fringe.
That appears to be the case when it comes to the 19 extremists who Italian authorities said planned to found an openly “pro-Nazi, xenophobic, and anti-Semitic” political organization they dubbed the Nationalist Italian Workers’ Party.
Those whose homes were raided late last month included 26-year-old Milan native Francesca Rizzi, who was crowned “Miss Adolf Hitler” after an online vote. According to photos released by police, Ms. Rizzi had a tattoo of a Nazi war eagle perched atop a swastika that ran across the width of her back. Online she referred to herself as “Eva Braun.” The real Eva Braun was Hitler’s longtime girlfriend whom he married just before they both killed themselves hours before Berlin fell to Allied forces in 1945.
Police also reportedly raided the home of a man from southern Italy reported to have ties with the Calabria ’Ndrangheta organized crime syndicate and a woman from the northern city of Padua referred to in the Italian media as “Hitler’s sergeant major.” All of them are accused of breaking Italian laws that prohibit any “defense of fascism.”
Broader operation
Italian police said the raids that took place in 16 cities across the country were part of a wider initiative called “Operation Black Shadows.” They said further raids could still be carried out.
“Some of the suspects had large amounts of weapons and explosives as well said Nazi flags and anti-Semitic material and computers used to distribute fascist material and material denying the Holocaust” as part of recruitment efforts, said a spokesman from the Polizia dello Stato. The spokesman added that some of the individuals had been in contact with members of similar groups in some other European countries, including the U.K.
The raids are not the only examples of a resurgence of neo-fascist groups in Italy recently. Earlier this year, Emanuele Castrucci, a public policy professor at the University of Siena in Tuscany was reprimanded after colleagues discovered pro-Hitler posts on Mr. Castrucci’s social media accounts. Last month, 89-year-old Liliana Segre, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp, was given police protection after her life was threatened when she called for stronger anti-hate laws in Italy.
And Italian anti-terror forces in July seized another large cache of guns and ammunition allegedly being assembled by far-right Italian figures for use in the conflict in Ukraine pitting government forces against Russian-backed separatist forces. Among those arrested n the raid was an Italian ex-customs officer who belonged to the far-right Forza Nuova party.
According to sociologist Emanuele Toscano from Marconi University in Rome, the rise of social media has made it easier for people with extremist views to find each other.
“Before social media most of these people would be isolated and they would understand their views were not acceptable,” said Mr. Toscano, who has written a book about Casa Pound, a Rome-based extremist group named after American poet Ezra Pound, a fascist sympathizer. “Now, it is easier than ever to find like-minded people and to organize.”
The neo-Nazi group reported used a Russian-made private chat app to frustrate eavesdropping by Italy’s security forces. The “Miss Hitler” competition was hosted on another Russian social media platform called VK.
Though the most extreme groups remain on the fringe of society, Italy’s League — the country’s largest political party, according to opinion polls — has increased its influence by calling for strict laws against immigration and espousing Italian nationalist rhetoric. The party, which is the main opposition party in Italy, has publicly distanced itself from extremist elements.
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