Italy to probe anti-Semitic MD with Hitler bust in his library
Gianantonio Valli, a Holocaust-denying doctor and self-proclaimed 'Nazi,' publicly displays racist magazines and leaflets
Adiv Sterman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Italian Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin has demanded that health officials file a report concerning alleged racist and anti-Semitic activity by a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi doctor in the village of Cuveglio, near Varese.
Dr Gianantonio Valli, a Holocaust-denying general practitioner, serves over 1,400 patients in his small town near the Swiss border. Valli’s clinic supports numerous anti-Semitic and Xenophobic propaganda magazines as well a leaflets that dehumanize people of color, the Independent reported.
The doctor also boasts a bust of Adolf Hitler in his private library.
“I am completely fascist, ie. Nazi,” Valli said in a recent interview. “I see myself in the tradition of the pagan realism and I’m radically opposed to all aberrant Jewish religion and philosophy.”
For years, the highly controversial doctor had been allowed to practice without any disturbance from Italian authorities.
The doctor’s views recently came to light after Jewish MP Emanuele Fiano demanded action from the government in an article published in the center-left La Repubblica newspaper.
In a public address to the health minister, Fiano questioned whether employing Valli, who he called “one of the leading Holocaust deniers in our country who publicly expresses xenophobic, racist and anti-Semitic ideas, is compatible with the health system’s medical profession.”
The health ministry announced that it would initiate a report on the doctor’s actions.
Over the past couple of weeks, Italy has been subject to a number of racist and polarizing statements. Two weeks ago, the deputy speaker of the Italian Senate, Roberto Calderoli, compared Cecile Kyenge, Italy’s only black minister, to an orangutan.
Calderoli refused to resign his position in the senate.
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