Liliana Segre, a senator for life, receives an average 200 online threats a day, many against her life. Earlier this year, a teacher from the Veneto region wrote on Facebook that Segre “would do well in a nice little incinerator”.
The Italian Holocaust survivor has been assigned a police escort after an escalation of threats from far-right extremists.
The attacks have increased since her proposal to establish a parliamentary commission to combat racism, antisemitism and incitement to hatred was passed by the government last week.
Animosity towards Segre, 89, was amplified after the far-right parties, the League and Brothers of Italy, as well as Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, refused to back the proposal, sparking fury from the Vatican and Rome’s Jewish community.
Renato Saccone, the prefect of Milan, where Segre lives, was moved to act after Forza Nuova, a neo-fascist political party, hung up a banner criticising the anti-fascism movement close to a theatre where the 89-year-old was making a speech on Tuesday.
“Liliana was receiving threats long before she proposed a motion for the commission,” Paola Gargiulo, Segre’s chief of staff, told the Guardian. “You get the professional haters and imbeciles, but at the same time in Italy there is a much larger number of people who are in solidarity with Segre.”
In a show of support, Beppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, announced a demonstration against hate and racism on 10 December, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights.
“Milan is Liliana Segre’s city, she was born here and came back here,” Sala said. “Many of us will be there to express our friendship, esteem and sympathy for her. The memory, truth and strength of her story will never be forgotten.”
Segre was 13 when on 30 January 1944, along with several other family members, she was deported to Auschwitz from platform 21 at Milan’s central station. She was separated from her father, who was killed the next day. Her mother had died when she was a baby. Only 25 of the 776 Italian children sent to the concentration camp survived.
Segre lived with her maternal grandparents in the Marche region after returning to Italy. She went public about her experience in the camp only in the 1990s and since then has devoted much of her time to visiting schools to teach children about the Holocaust.
Segre, who was made a senator for life in January 2018, recently said during a lecture at a university in Milan that “haters are people we should feel sorry for”, while adding that “every minute of our lives must be lived to the full – whether enjoyed or suffered”.
Segre said earlier this week that she would be willing to meet Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League and former interior minister, after he said it would be “an honour” to meet her in the aftermath of the controversy over the commission. However, in response to news about the police escort on Thursday, he said: “I receive threats every day … threats against Segre, against Salvini or whoever else, are bad.”
Salvini said he didn’t support the commission because he was worried it would impose limits on freedom of expression “and the right to say ‘Italians first’”.
Days after Segre’s proposal passed, footballer Mario Balotelli was the target of racist chanting during a Serie A game between his team, Brescia, and Verona. It was the latest in a string of racist incidents blighting Italian football.
“They’re still judging people by the colour of their skin?” Segre said. “There’s a good reason why this commission should get to work straight away.”
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