ROME, May 8. /TASS/. Italy’s lifetime senator, Liliana Segre, believes it is utterly intolerable and impermissible to use history for political aims. She urges one and all to be aware of the extreme risks the attempts at rewriting it might entail. Segre, a former Nazi concentration camp inmate and a renowned activist in the struggle against antisemitism and hate crimes, told TASS in an interview on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany that manipulations with history had always been an acute issue fraught with the risk of being used for political purposes.

"Attempts at rewriting history must be quashed by all means, regardless of who might be behind them," Segre stated.

On January 30, 1944, at an age of 13 Segre and her father had been sent from Milan to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where her father would die two months later. Her grandmother and grandfather were put to death in a concentration camp, too. Liliana survived the "death march." Of the 776 Italian children under fourteen years of age who had been taken to Auschwitz only 25 lived to see the day of their liberation from captivity. Liliana was one of the fortunate ones.

On September 10, Segre will turn 90. In January 2018, Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella named Liliana Segre senator for life.

"I was a witness to a remarkable [historical] moment," Segre recalls. "The link-up of the Red Army, which had come from the East, with the allied forces, which had come from the West. The last concentration camp where I had been kept was Malchow [a branch of the women’s concentration camp Ravensbruck], which was taken by the Red Army [on April 30, 1945]. I was not there at the moment, because the Nazis had begun to evacuate the camp. At a certain point, when we were in an open field, our guards suddenly vanished and we saw American soldiers. Soon the allies and the Soviet troops met in Mecklenburg [in northern Germany — TASS].

Nazi threat

Segre sees certain threats of fascism in modern society, just like Pope Francis, who has said in public more than once that statements by some politicians these days remind him of Hitler’s 1933 speeches.

"The Pope has an in-depth, clear vision. Fascism has always been a threat. Modern fascism uses other instruments and leverage, but the aim remains the same. Everything starts with the infringement of the basic freedoms. Besides, fascism does not manifest itself with a Nazi salute alone. It appears in many pious-looking disguises. Lately, it was facelifted to be lent an ostensibly attractive look. The pandemic is fraught with the risk of an economic slump, so politicians may yield to the temptation to use power methods again," Segre said.

Segre responded to the news of her appointment as a lifetime senator as a token of recognition of the memory of dark pages in history. She is certain that Auschwitz was a "catastrophic consequence" of the race laws Italy adopted in 1938. It was those laws that forced her to leave school in her hometown Milan when she was eight.

In 1943, her father Alberto Segre tried to escape with his daughter to Switzerland only to be expelled back to Italy. Before the tragic train journey from Milan to Auschwitz Liliana had spent several months in jail.

"I’ve spent my whole life struggling with the dark forces of society. From the moment I became a member of parliament my personal struggle has had an official status. I’ve dedicated myself to the creation of a special commission for resistance to all forms of racism, antisemitism and to calls for hate and violence on the account of race or religion," Segre said.

She sees a big difference between racism towards migrants today and antisemitism of last century.

"These two things are impossible to compare. Times differ, conditions differ. We were deported by force. In the meantime, migration (even if it is a result of despair) is the choice of the individual. These are different types of racism, which, however have one common feature (then and today) — it’s indifference," Segre said.

Message to new generations

Italy this year celebrated the 75th anniversary of the liberation from Nazism and fascism. On April 25, the nation mostly remembers the guerillas who made a contribution to the national liberation movement. It was the victory over fascism and Nazism that laid the basis of modern Italian statehood. The Italian Constitution rests upon anti-fascist principles.

"Freedom is the basis of democracy and it is an indisputable good. Our countries paid dearly for it. As Piero Calamandrei, one of the authors of the Italian Constitution said, freedom is like air: you notice how necessary it is only when there is not enough of it. The people of my generation were struggling for a gulp of fresh air for 20 years. My wish is that the young never experience this feeling," Segre said.