An Italian wine merchant is doing a thriving trade in wines labelled with pictures of Hitler, threatening another Italian-German rift.
The bottles, some of which bear the logo Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer (one people, one nation, one leader), have been selling fast, mainly to German tourists who spot them in petrol stations in northern Italy and at the beach resort of Rimini.
They are part of a "historical series" of labels, featuring leaders such as Mussolini, Stalin and Che Guevara. A Stalin or Hitler bottle, with Cabernet or Merlot wine, sells for 3.3 euros.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Germany's justice minister, Brigitte Zypries, has protested to her Italian counterpart, Roberto Castelli. But Italy has so far not taken any action.
"People like these characters. They make good table conversation. So I'm not about to stop selling," said wine merchant Alessandro Lunardelli, who says the Hitler wine is the most popular, selling 30,000 bottles a year. "I am sorry if there are some people -- German politicians, Jewish groups or that type of thing -- who get upset.
"But it's just history. I see no reason for such a fuss."
The use of racist or Nazi symbols is banned in Germany, but in Italy Nazi nostalgia is alive and well, with Mussolini calendars and tapes of his speeches selling alongside Pokemon toys.
A German prosecutor has warned that Germany could prosecute Lunardelli if he has sold his wines directly to Germans over the Internet.
"I could make a fortune if I responded to all the e-mail orders I get from Germany," he said. "But I know that would be against German law."
There were reports of the wine being sold on the German black market for 18 euros a bottle.
The debate adds to strain on Italo-German relations after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi compared a German member of the European parliament to a concentration camp guard and a junior tourism minister called German tourists "supernationalistic blonds."
Although Berlin wants a European ban on racist or anti-foreigner imagery and literature, Castelli said only the Italian judiciary could decide to ban the wine.
"I did not know these bottles were being produced," he said. "It seems bad taste to me."
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
Burmese President Min Aung Hlaing yesterday cut all prisoners’ sentences by one-sixth, a blanket measure that a source close to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi said would further shorten her detention. Aung San Suu Kyi has been sequestered since a 2021 military coup, but the senior member of her dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) party said that while her term had been reduced, her remaining sentence is still unclear. “We also don’t know exactly how many years she has left,” the source told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The military toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government
RSS