ROME (AP) — An Italian book fair has banned a publisher linked to a neo-fascist group after complaints from a Holocaust survivor and the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum.

The survivor, 89-year-old poet Halina Birenbaum, was quoted by Italy's Corriere della Sera daily as saying "this is more proof for me that evil will not win." She will open the 2019 Turin International Book Fair starting Thursday.

Birenbaum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum had threatened to boycott the event if the Altaforte publishing house was included. The head of the publisher, Francesco Polacchi, is close to the neo-fascist party CasaPound and has defined himself as a fascist.

He has praised late dictator Benito Mussolini and said "anti-fascism is the true evil in this country."

Polacchi said Thursday he would fight to be included in the fair.