Berlin, Sept 07: The German government has asked Italy to investigate whether an Italian wine with labels depicting Nazis Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler violates European Union anti-racism rules.
German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries has written to her Italian counterpart Roberto Castelli asking him to check if the wine contravenes a European Union resolution on combating the spread of racist images and literature.
"She asked her (Italian) counterpart to take care of the matter," a Justice Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.
German law strictly forbids the use of Nazi symbols or insignia. The spokeswoman said Zypries was particularly concerned that the bottles were being sold in petrol stations which are partly owned by the Italian state. German tourists are importing the wine from Italy and also able to purchase it on the Internet.
"It is a crime if someone brings the wine to Germany and sells it for propaganda reasons," the spokeswoman said.
The head of the company which produces the wine, Andrea Lunardelli, told a German television that the bottles emblazoned with phrases such as "Sieg Heil" and "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer" were made chiefly for the German market.
Its Web site says the labels "remind us of the lives of celebrated personages of Italian and world political history such as Che Guevara, Churchill...Hitler, Marx, Mussolini, Napoleon."
In July, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ushered in a rocky patch in German-Italian relations when he compared a German member of the European Parliament to a Nazi concentration camp official.
Shortly afterwards German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cancelled a holiday to Italy after a junior Italian minister made derogatory remarks about German tourists. The minister later resigned. Bureau Report