2024 Army Calendar does not rehabilitate Fascism - ministry

(see related) (ANSA) - ROME, JAN 18 - The defence ministry on Thursday denied that the 2024 Army Calendar rehabilitates fascism after the Italian Partisans' Association ANPI called for it to be withdrawn.
    "The Army Calendar 2024 does not in any way intend to 'rehabilitate fascism', on the contrary," said the ministry in a statement.
    It "is part of a historical trilogy that aims exclusively to highlight the commitment and value of Italians and of our soldiers in the War of Liberation, in the knowledge that, through their oath, today's soldiers, like those of the past, are also committed to serving the country and its republican institutions," it added.
    Critics including ANPI claim the calendar, titled "For Italy always... before and after September 8, 1943", puts Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy before the 1943 Armistice on the same level as the post-war antifascist and democratic Republic. "We take note that there is a pro-fascist minority that wants to rewrite the history of Italy," ANPI President Gianfranco Pagliarulo told ANSA earlier on Thursday.
    (Photo: Defence Minister Guido Crosetto) (ANSA).