newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A lawyer from Philadelphia and his wife were surprised to find wine bottles featuring the likeness of Adolf Hitler while vacationing in the northern Italy town of Garda.

Cindy Hirsch’s father was born in Czechoslovakia and survived Auschwitz. A number of Hirsch’s other family members died there. So Hirsch was understandably horrified when she saw one bottle had an image of Hitler doing a Nazi salute, another reads "Mein Kampf," and Hitler poses with Pope John Paul II on a third bottle.

Andrea Riccardi, the Italian integration minister said, according to thedrinksbusiness.com, “I want to reassure our American friends that our Constitution and our culture rejects racism, anti-Semitism and Nazi fascism. This offends the memory of millions and risks compromising the image of Italy abroad.” Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the sale of the Hitler bottles.

Michael Hirsch called the discovery shocking and startling. He told The Daily Telegraph, “It makes you wonder about the sympathies of the local people."

“It is an affront to humanity as a whole," Cindy Hirsch added.

A store employee told Hirsch the bottles had to remain at the store as a reminder of what happened "to the sons and daughters of those who had carried out these actions,” according to UPI.com.

According to Digital Journal, the Hitler bottles come from the "Historical Line" of the Lunardelli winery, which also features Benito Mussolini, Josef Stalin, and Winston Churchill.