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Foreign Minister Steinmeier and Italian Foreign Minister Gentiloni to open exhibition “Between Two Stools” on Italian military internees in the Second World War
On Monday, 28 November 2016, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni will open the exhibition, Between Two Stools – The History of Italian Military Internees 1943-1945. The exhibition, for which the Foreign Office is providing funding of 1.45 million euros via the German-Italian Future Fund, sends an important message as regards coming to terms with the German-Italian war past.
Foreign Minister Steinmeier and Foreign Minister Gentiloni commented as follows:
We need to look at the past in order to grasp how far Germans and Italians have come in the past seven decades and to understand the path that has led to the close friendship that unites our countries today. This would not have been possible without forgiveness, mutual trust and shared remembrance.
Furthermore, these achievements brought about the united and peaceful Europe where we live together today. The exhibition is a stark reminder that there is no alternative to dialogue and reconciliation.
In 2008, the German and Italian Foreign Ministers agreed that there should be close cooperation on this topic and tasked the German-Italian Commission of Historians with its research.
The exhibition has come about at the recommendation of the Commission of Historians and will be shown at the Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre in Berlin. For further information, please click here:
