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Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
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TRIESTE (AFP)---Nazism and fascism were "absolute evils," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday as he met his German counterpart at a former death camp in northern Italy.
"Nazism and fascism represent absolute evils in our history. Only by saying everything about our past can we defend our future," Frattini said at the Risiera di San Sabba site near the northeastern city of Trieste, with German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier at his side.
"Italy and Germany can approach the future in a spirit of cooperation by sharing the ideals of reconciliation, solidarity and integration that are the foundation of the European Union," Frattini said, adding that the two countries should "teach young people about the tragedy of Nazism and fascism."
Steinmeier, recalling that between 3,000 and 5,000 people were killed at Risiera di San Sabba including Jews and political prisoners, said: "Our thoughts are with them all today."
He added: "These terrible events that took place in Germany's name are part of our common history. The bitter memory of them unites us."
The visit took place on the sidelines of talks between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Trieste.
Steinmeir also recalled the "suffering of some 600,000 Italian soldiers who were interned: the unspeakable, often deadly, conditions of their transport, their internment in hunger and cold, their forced labour."
Frattini used the occasion to announce a joint conference of historians from the two countries next year in Italy.
He also spoke briefly about a dispute with Germany over compensation for victims of a 1994 Nazi massacre in Arezzo, Italy.
Last month, Italy's highest appeal court ordered Germany to compensate the families of the victims of the massacre, in which Nazi troops killed 203 civilians in the Tuscan province on June 29, 1944.
Germany has lodged a challenge to the ruling with the International Court
of Justice (ICJ).
Rome has "noted" the challenge, Frattini said Tuesday. "We will respect the decision of (the ICJ) as we have respected the decision of the Italian appeal court," he said.
The ruling was the first time an Italian court had ordered Germany to pay
compensation in a criminal case.