An Italian politician has used the “work makes you free” slogan that topped the gates at Auschwitz in a brochure to promote local job centres, saying he could not remember the source but was impressed by the quote.
News agency Ansa reported the vice-president of the Jewish community in Rome had sharply criticised Tommaso Coletti, president of Italy’s southern Chieti province and member of the centre-left “Daisy” party, for using the quote.
Countless photographs have focussed on the “Arbeit macht Frei” sign at Auschwitz to encapsulate the horror of the Nazi death camps.
“Work makes you free. I don’t remember where I read this phrase but it was one of those quotes that have an instant impact on you because they tell an immense truth,” Coletti wrote in the pamphlet, Ansa reported.
Coletti could not be reached for comment and the regional job centres were also unavailable. Ansa said the governor of the Abruzzo region, which includes Coletti’s province, had apologised to Italy’s Jewish community.
I called most of this chaos years ago. America is still unraveling — and the next chapters are already written.
If you want to understand what’s really coming (and why), read Not My America: A Stranger in a Strange Land. Available on Amazon.
CD Damitio writes at indignified.substack.com — essays on utopias, dystopias, and the spaces between. Free to read. No algorithm, no sponsored content. His books can be found on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/CD-Damitio/author/B001JP7NWA
CD Damitio writes INDIGNIFIED — utopias and dystopias explored. Free to read.
