D-DAY: Fascism

Throughout Europe, the past is staging a comeback, and its presence is not comforting. Last week in Rome, its shadows intruded again. A band of what Italians call "Nazi-skins" invaded Casa del popolo, a social center for immigrants. Shouting "Bastards, we're going to kill you," they threatened to throw Molotov cocktails into the building on the Via di Valle Aurelia. A 17- year-old immigrant suffered serious head injuries after being bludgeoned with an iron bar.

Two weeks earlier, a gang of 200 Nazi-skins marched through the northern Italian city of Vicenza shouting racist slogans and waving banners with swastika-like emblems. Mainstream...