Reuters  Friday, December 5, 2003

BRUSSELS ­­ Belgium's official anti-racism center said on
Friday it was preparing legal action to stop imports of an
Italian wine with labels depicting Adolf Hitler and other
leading Nazis.  

"A picture of Adolf Hitler is in itself too little (to trigger legal
action), but he's also doing the Hitler salute and there is this
message 'One People, One Empire, One Leader'" Ingrid
Aendenboom, spokeswoman for the Center for Equal
Opportunities and the Fight against Racism, told Reuters.  

"That falls within the framework of the anti-racism law," she
said.   The wine "is apparently a huge success in Italy," but
the Belgian public was "very sensitive to this kind of thing,"
she said. The wine is sold at Belgian flea markets.  

The head of the wine producing company, Andrea Lunardelli,
told German television in September that the labels carrying
phrases such as "Sieg Heil" and "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein
Fuehrer" were made chiefly for the German market.   Its Web
site says the labels "remind us of the lives of celebrated
personages of Italian and world political history."  

The German government asked Italy in September to
investigate whether the labels depicting top Nazis such as
Hitler, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler violated
European Union anti-racism rules. German law strictly forbids
the use of Nazi symbols or insignia, but German tourists were
importing the wine from Italy or buying it on the Internet.