Mattarella pide que la conmemoración de las víctimas de la fibra «no sea divisiva»

This article was originally published in Italian

The day commemorates the thousands of victims and 250-350,000 displaced people from Giulia and Dalmia who were killed by Yugoslav partisans during World War II. Mattarella urges «not to become a divisive day,» and Meloni, on the other hand, says: «We will continue to tell this story.»

On February 10th is the day of remembrance for the victims of FIIBE and the exiles of Istrian-Dalmatians, a day of commemoration of the massacre of thousands of Italians at the hands of Yugoslav forces under Marshal Tito.

The anniversary, established in 2004 under pressure from the government of Italy and the families of the missing, commemorates both martyrs and many people who left their homes.

Reactions of Italian politicians to the day of victims and refugees Istrian-Dalmatians

The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, called for «maintaining and honoring the memory of the victims. The day will lose its authentic value if it is subjected to divisions or revived animosities.»

The Italian President also praised the role of European integration in «rebuilding deep rifts between states» such as the silence on FIIBE. He recalled, among others, how Italy is working with its Croatian and Slovenian partners to clarify the crimes of Tito’s troops.

Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, visited FIIBE at the Basovizza on January 10th, which has become a symbol of the victims. On that occasion, she said: «Today, we embrace all compatriots who decided to leave everything behind to not give up their identity.»

Meloni added: «We will continue to tell the younger generations what happened to the inhabitants of Foume, Istria, and Dalmia because their story is the nation’s heritage. A story that defeated the conspiracy of silence and that no attempt to deny or justify can hide or erase.

The anniversary was established in 2004 by the second Berlusconi government, to remember the tragedy. Initially, it was a divisive holiday seen by different parties as a «counterweight» to the day in memory of the Holocaust victims. But there were no opposing positions or justifications from the opposition figures who participated in the holiday with a sober and institutional tone.

Events in Basovizza and a controversial legacy in Croatia

On February 9th, on the eve of the holiday, writings in Slovenian (which were later removed) were found on the road in front of the Basovizza FIIBE gates: «Trieste is ours, death to fascism, freedom for the people» the messages read.

The vandalism caused a strong condemnation from Mattarella. «Miserable provocations cannot undermine the memory of the victims,» he said. However, the question of FIIBE remains much more complex in Croatia, the homeland of Marshal Tito and the headquarters, during the interwar period, of one of Europe’s most fascinated fascist parties.

In 2019, Antonio Tajani, at that time the President of the European Parliament, gave a speech to commemorate the events at FIIBE. He was strongly criticized by Andrej Plenkovic, then the Prime Minister of Croatia, demanding clarifications and accusing him of «supporting territorial claims.» This year, Croatian authorities have not made any statements on the matter.

Joint holiday with Slovenia

This year, the European Capital of Culture will be Gorizia-Nova Gorica. On February 8th, President Mattarella participated in the opening day with his Slovenian counterpart, Nataša Pirc.

Five years ago, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and his Slovenian counterpart, Borut Pahor, met at the Bonoviziza gates and entered FIIBE together to place a wreath on the altar to remember the victims.

FIIBE massacres

After the fall of Benito Mussolini in 1943, the situation in the Western Balkans became particularly difficult: Rome controlled Istria, Dalmatia, and Rijeka (then called Rijeka). But in that area, the fascist troops, increasingly fighting against Yugoslav partisans of Marshal Tito, left the Nazis free.

The Nazi-fascist troops began to carry out massacres against Yugoslav partisans, like LIPA in April 1944. In the end, there were 1.7 million victims in Yugoslav territory.

But the increasingly loose control of the fascists led to the loss of more and more areas and reprisals against the Italian population: Yugoslav partisans began to throw between 3,500 and 11,000 people into foibe (sinkholes).

Among them, the majority (around 80%) were fascist soldiers, and 97% were men. But there were also many civilian and innocent victims among them. The reprisals took place in the provinces of Pula, Trieste, and Gorizia, mostly Italian but occupied by Tito’s partisans.

Historian Raoul Pupo, one of the leading experts on this topic, speaks of «political and not ethnic basic representations» but this does not diminish the immense and unjustified violence carried out by Tito’s troops.

The fate of the region after World War II

In February 1947, after several discussions on the fate of the region, the area of the former Italian region of Veneto Giulia was divided into two: Trieste under Anglo-American occupation, Fiume, Istria, and Dalmatia under Tito’s control.

The phase of massacre almost completely ended, but the exodus of the Italian-speaking population and culture began: Between 250 and 300 thousand people fled leaving everything behind. In vain, for example, 15 thousand people out of a total population of 22,000 all of Italian origin left. Besides the losses, many of them had to endure the mockery of being treated as second-class citizens in the country many of whom linked their origins and fled due to fascist collaboration..

However, some cities have recently promised to organize: in Rome, in 1948, the «Giuliano Village» was built in the southern part of the city. Meanwhile, La Spezia welcomed 4,000 refugees. But for years, associations of the victims could not break the wall of silence.

The path to the Day of Remembrance

Despite this fact, in the 1990s, the victims began to have their own space in the public debate, with personalities like Cossetto or Andra and Tatiana Buci. In 1992, the established doctrine was broken to investigate war crimes in Istria and Dalmatia.

Indeed, the complaint of Nadia Cernecca was accepted the daughter of a victim, to open a trial against the self-confessed perpetrators who were still alive. This process ended in the dead end, since 2004, it was stated that Italian magistrates do not have territorial jurisdiction for this type of crimes. However, in the same year, in recognition of the suffering and losses of Istrian-Dalmatians, a day of remembrance for the exiles and victims was finally established.

FUENTE