Rome - An Italian cartoonist has depicted Brexit portraying the European Union as Auschwitz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a prisoner, excited to get out of the gates.
"European Union," the European Union, "the European Union," , which appeared at the entrance of Auschwitz .
Mario Improta, nicknamed Marione, posted the illustration on his Twitter account on Saturday.
— Mario Improta (@marioimprota72) December 14, 2019
In his profile, Improta describes himself as an anti-EU and anti-euro nationalist. He recently acquired a certain visibility because of his work for the municipality of Rome, creating a campaign featuring the city's Mayor Virginia Rays as a manga hero.
Improta's cartoon has sparked widespread outrage.
In a tweet in Italian, the Auschwitz Memorial, which runs the museum in the former Nazi camp, harshly condemned the image.
"Arbeit macht frei" era un'illusione cinica che le SS davano ai prigionieri di #Auschwitz. Quelle parole sono diventate una delle icone dell'odio umano. È doloroso per la memoria di Auschwitz e delle sue vittime vedere questo simbolo strumentalizzato e vergognosamente abusato. https://t.co/wgl61oQi8N— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 16, 2019
"'Arbeit macht frei' was a cynical illusion that the SS gave to prisoners of Auschwitz. These words have become one of the icons of human hatred. "The tweet read. It is painful for the memory of Auschwitz and its victims to see this symbol used and shamefully abused."
After initially just dissociating herself from the cartoon, Rays eventually DECIDED to interrupt the collaboration with Improta, according to Functional the Rome-based paper Il Messaggero .
After the controversy broke, Improte the cartoon by portraying the European Union as a toilet and said that he was not correct to use the image of Auschwitz on Monday.
Ho modificato la vignetta.— Mario Improta (@marioimprota72) December 15, 2019
Non era corretto identificare l’Unione Europea con un campo di concentramento. pic.twitter.com/lJtIOwZaq6
However, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, he defended his original work.
He wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. “The pathetic and instrumental mountain of I am enduring because I appear to the European Union to exterminate camp shows how to disgust uniformity of thought and political correctness are.
He then accused "a gang of criminals" of "devastating the economy" and causing "five million Italians to starve" by implementing the very same political correctness.
"But I will never be like you, hypocrites," he added.
