UNIVERSITY SHOAH DENIER DEFIANT

UNIVERSITY SHOAH DENIER DEFIANT

(ANSA) - Rome, October 22 - A Rome University philosophy teacher on Thursday remained defiant in the face of claims he should not be allowed to express his view that the Holocaust was ''a legend''.

Antonio Caracciolo, 59, a researcher in Philosophy of Law at La Sapienza University, said he was the victim of ''Zionist groups'' and had every right to air his opinions.

Caracciolo, who says on his blogs that ''no one seriously believes any more that six million Jews died'' in the Holocaust and claims there is no proof of the gas chambers, said he did not fear for his job.

''I'm in an iron-clad position. I am a researcher and I'm entitled to conduct research''.

Caracciolo, who currently has about ten students following his course on pro-Nazi philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, claimed he ''taught his students to think for themselves''.

He also accused Jews of ''arrogance'' and ''exploiting the guilt they think the whole world owes them''.

After extracts from Caracciolo's blog were published by Rome daily La Repubblica, the Rome Jewish community said it would take legal action against him as it had with other Shoah deniers in the past.

The head of the community, Riccardo Pacifici, said it was acting ''for the whole of civil society'' even though deniers were clearly ''acting only to shock''.

Pacifici voiced regret that Italy, unlike other countries such as Germany and Austria, did not have laws against Holocaust denial.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno called for Caracciolo to be suspended if his statements turned out to be true.

The university said it was weighing disciplinary action but sources said removing the researcher could be harder than outsiders might think because his views were apparently expressed only in blogs and not in the classroom. photo: La Sapienza