The Italian football association has announced that an excerpt from Anne Frank's diary will be read aloud at all football matches in the country this week.
All matches in Serie A, B, C, and amateur and youth games over the weekend will observe a minute of silence combined with the reading of the passage to promote Holocaust remembrance.
The measures come after Lazio fans posted stickers of Frank wearing the jersey of rivals Roma alongside anti-Semitic slogans during Sunday's top-flight game against Cagliari Calcio.
Questa non è una curva, questo non è calcio, questo non è sport. Fuori gli antisemiti dagli stadi. pic.twitter.com/Q1uJnDQ7Cl
— Ruth Dureghello (@dureghello) 23 October 2017
The chosen diary passage reads: "I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness. I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more."
In addition, Lazio announced that an image of Frank will be put on their shirts for Wednesday's game at Bologna to demonstrate their fight against "all forms of racism and anti-Semitism".
A statement on their website read: "The president of SS Lazio, Claudio Lotito, has decided that tomorrow the team will be coming to the stadium at Renato Dall'Ara Stadium in Bologna with an image of Anne Frank on the Biancoceleste shirt, demonstrating the club's commitment to fighting all forms of racism and anti-Semitism."
Lazio's ultras have a history of racist and antisemitic behaviour.
Giuseppe Labellarte
