Italian football club engulfed by anti-Semitism row

By Ilker Girit

ISTANBUL (AA) - Footballers for Italian side Lazio will wear images of Holocaust victim Anne Frank during a Wednesday night game after a row about anti-Semitism engulfed the club this week.

Lazio’s management confirmed in a statement their players would wear the image of the German-born Jewish girl who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 in tonight’s Serie A match away to Bologna.

The decision came after Lazio fans left stickers around the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Sunday depicting Anne Frank wearing the shirt of bitter city rivals Roma.

A statement posted on Lazio's website said the team would demonstrate "the club's commitment to fighting all forms of racism and anti-Semitism" at Renato Dall'Ara Stadium in Bologna on Wednesday.

Lazio president Claudio Lotito, speaking after visiting a synagogue in Rome on Tuesday, said the club would organize an annual trip to Auschwitz -- the largest Nazi concentration camp in Europe -- for 200 of the club's fans "to educate and make sure we don't forget certain episodes".

The Italian Football Federation, meanwhile, announced that a section of Anne Frank's famous diary will be read and minute's silence would be held before all Italian league matches this week.