“I believe that these excesses have always been there, hidden, not shown but always there. I believe that with this government they are taking advantage of the great power of the right, which was voted, they are no longer ashamed of anything. These Nazi mottos, which unfortunately I remember directly and not by hearsay, at my age do I have to hear them again?”: Liliana Segre said in her interview with La7.
This evening, during the broadcast In Onda on La7, the full interview with the senator for life, a survivor of Auschwitz, was aired. Liliana Secret. On the rise of the far right, crystallized by the last European elections, he said: “History is made of historical courses and recurrences and I, for my personal history, for what I have seen in this long life, did not think I would get to see what is happening in the world. We are talking about Germany, France. It is not only there, we know that it is also ours, that we have it close to home. That this drift of desire of the right in which a single person at the head decides for us, that we do not go to vote, that we have no desire to decide. This is very dangerous“.
And on the Fanpage investigation: “I believe that these drifts have always been there, hidden, not exhibited but always there. I believe that with this government they are taking advantage of the great power of the right, which was voted, they are no longer ashamed of anything. These Nazi mottos, which unfortunately I remember directly and not by hearsay, at my age do I have to hear them again? Will I be kicked out of my country like I was kicked out once?”.
The senator for life also commented on the fact that – as emerged from the investigation into Gioventù Nazionale – nostalgic feelings are also embraced by very young people: “I was silent, a deep silence that was inside me. Even in my close family I told very little, I always waited for my children to grow up, and they never grew up enough. But at a certain point, after a long depression that I had, I understood that I could no longer remain silent: at that point I felt an uncontrollable need to become a witness“. It’s still “At first it seemed so difficult to me that I would not have been able to tell about Auschwitz, and in fact one never tells everything. I think that most of these kids are above all very ignorant of history. Partly because it is not taught, partly because of life. A boy today knows nothing of what happened yesterday and cannot even worry about what will happen tomorrow. He is concerned with what he will do in the moment. This scares me a lot, because the future must be planned, and everyone must have a self-confidence that these boys do not have.“.
I don’t want to raise my daughters in a country where Liliana Segre is afraid to stay
Returning to talk about the October 7th and the conflict in the Middle East, Segre said: “When I saw what happened on October 7th I felt so terribly like the old me that I didn’t know whether to despair or get angry. I wish those unwatchable images had been broadcast more, because they were forgotten too soon. From a personal point of view, with my story, from the point of view of my mother and grandmother, those children who were not guilty of anything except existing, had torn me apart so much that I couldn’t think of anything else. But I never thought I would suffer so much in the following days, when there was this revenge. I am a woman of peace, I have never taken revenge. Those children, on both sides, tear me apart“.
And on the episodes of anti-semitism which have increased in recent months, Segre said that there has always been: “This was the perfect opportunity to shoot it in all its effects and all its environments. I think it will never be eradicated“.
Returning to the criticisms regarding the position expressed on the awardedand above all on the fact that he was speaking through her: “My words on the premiership suggested by Mattarella? I respect Mattarella so much, I love him like a brother, I am grateful to him, I like him as crooked as he is, a wonderful man, in the right place, woe betide if he wasn’t there. But he has nothing to do with it. I know it and he knows it very well“. On whether some things were said just because she is a woman, she added: “I am very feminist. Undoubtedly, women in a Latin country like this are always seen as not being up to the standards of men, certainly. And I don’t know how many more centuries it will take before each of us takes our place in the world.“.
Finally, on the nomination as senator for life, still speaking of the President of the Republic, she said again: “Since Mattarella he made me a senator, I took this role very seriously, and since I was already so old when I became a senator, I have a certain difficulty going to Rome, trying to be present at certain votes. I am grateful, very much, to Mattarella but every time I met him I also scolded him a lot. It’s all his fault, I always tell him… I try to do my duty. But then there are a thousand things that interest me, luckily, I am very passionate about reading, music“.
