In the Defence Commission unanimous yes to Italian internees' day

Green light from the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies to the bill to establish the Day of Italian internees in German concentration camps during World War II. A proposal by the Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies, the azure-blue Giorgio Mulè - first signatory and rapporteur - which obtained the consensus of all the parliamentary groups. The text passed by the Defence Commission will be submitted to the Chamber for examination.

The bill proposes to establish the Day of Italian internees in German concentration camps on 20 September each year. A way to commemorate the memory of Italian soldiers and civilians interned in Nazi concentration camps because of their refusal to collaborate with National Socialism after the armistice of 8 September 1943. The day is not considered a civil solemnity.

'The date 20 September was chosen,' explains the Honourable Giorgio Mulè in a video interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, 'because it is the date of ignominy. Because on 20 September '43 Hiltler, in contempt of all the rules of international law, did not recognise the status of prisoners of war to our 650,000 soldiers. And to humiliate them, he changed it to military internees. This led to further harassment and inhuman behaviour towards them. They arrived in the prison camps in summer uniforms and for the two years of captivity they had to stay in those uniforms. A great many died and many others, who returned to their homeland after '45, died of diseases contracted there. 20 September serves to remember that date and their sacrifice'.

"The proposal stems from the will and obligation to restore honour to the 650,000 Italian soldiers who, after the armistice, consciously chose not to enlist in the Wehrmacht and not to join the nascent Italian Social Republic. Their refusal cost them deportation to 21 German prison camps, where they had to endure humiliation of all kinds. Over 50,000 of them did not return,' Mulé points out. 'And for almost eighty years,' recalls the azure vice-president, 'this is a page that remained covered by oblivion. It was necessary to give honour and dignity to these hundreds of thousands of compatriots who, in the name of adherence to those principles on which the Republic is founded today, opposed a firm and decisive no to the Germans and the fascists of the Social Republic'.

Montecitorio Defence Committee Chairman Nino Minardo was satisfied: 'The proposal by Chamber of Deputies Vice-President Giorgio Mulè was unanimously supported by colleagues from all parliamentary groups who asked to sign the text. The political unity that has been created around the memory of the internees is a positive and important signal'.