Hitler wine debate reignited

A case regarding a German far-right politician has reignited the debate about an Italian producer’s Hitler wine label.

An investigation into politican Daniel Halemba of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), who won a seat in Bavaria recently and was arrested on Monday, involves the possession of Nazi literature, weaponry, SS items as well as a picture of people drinking the Hitler wine.

According to prosecutors, the image shows members of the Teutonia Prague fraternity – to which Halemba belongs – drinking from the bottle. The wine comes from the small producer Vini Lunardelli, which is based in Friuil Venezia Giulia in the northeast of Italy. It has been selling dictator-themed wines featuring Benito Mussolini, General Franco, Josef Stalin and Lenin since the mid-nineties.

Prosecutors did not announce if the wine bottle was owned by Halemba or whether it belonged to the fraternity or other individuals.

This is certainly not the first time that concerns have been raised over the wine range. Holocaust foundation the Simon Wiesenthal Center has previously urged people to boycott the wines. And the German government itself has lodged complaints against the wine, starting way back in 1997.

The wine range, which sees bottle featuring phrases such as “Mein Führer”, “Sieg Heil” and “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer” alongside images of Hitler on its labels, is reportedly available in more than 50 stores across Italy, where the sale of products featuring facist imagery is mostly legal.

The Vini Lunardelli winery has maintained in the past that the wines are not “political”, rather a method to “remember” history.

“Unfortunately the most requested label [in the “historical” line] is Hitler – especially by Germans, but also by many British, Nordic, French and Russians,” winemaker Andrea Lunardelli told Vice last year.

“But no Italian wants Hitler.”

He said that the winery would discontinue its entire line of ‘historical’ wine labels next year, when he is due to assume control of the winery from his father. Lunardelli said he was sick of the controversy the product has stoked over the years and that he didn’t like the ‘historical’ range anyway.

Currently, the labels still appears to be available on its website under its history range.