Today is celebrated Remembrance Day, in memory of the almost twenty thousand Italians tortured, murdered and thrown into the foibe (the karst fissures used as landfills) by the militias of Yugoslavia Tito at the end of the Second World War.
“In those tormented but very lively border lands, which for centuries hosted peoples, languages, cultures, alternating fruitful periods of coexistence with moments of contrast and clashes, the last century reserved the tragic and peculiar fate of seeing side by side, a few kilometers away, in a gloomy geography of horror, two symbols of the catastrophe of totalitarianism, racism and ideological and nationalist fanaticism: the Risiera di San Sabba, Nazi concentration and extermination camp, and the Foiba di Basovizza, one of the places where Tito’s ferocity was exercised against the Italian community”. Thus the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella who presides over the ceremony at the Cuirassiers’ Hall. Mattarella added: “That territory, steeped in history and civilization, shared the same tragic fate as many countries in central-eastern Europe, which, after the defeat of Nazi-fascism, were denied their aspirations for freedom, democracy and “self-determination from the establishment of the communist dictatorship, imposed by the Soviet Union. Millions of people in those countries then saw themselves expelled from the land they had inhabited, forced to set out in search of a new homeland”.
The head of state retraced that piece of history: “The ferocity that was unleashed against the Italians in those areas cannot be classified under the heading of acts, however ignoble, of revenge or summary justice against the occupying fascists; whose dominion was intolerant and cruel state for the Slavic populations, whose requests for autonomy and linguistic and cultural protection had been denied and repressed for many years. The disappearances in the foibe or after internment in prison camps, the killings, the torture committed against the Italians in those areas, in fact, attacked officials and soldiers, priests, intellectuals, employees and simple citizens who had nothing to do with Mussolini’s dictatorship, and even partisans and anti-fascists, whose only fault was that of being Italian, of fighting or even just to aspire to a future of democracy and freedom for them and their children, to hinder the annexation of those territories under the communist dictatorship”.
They are present, in addition to Prime Minister Giorgia Melonssitting next to the head of state, the foreign ministers Antonio Tajaniof the Guido Defense Crosettofrom Interior Matteo Plant yourself. Also in the front row were the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano and the Minister of Sport Andrea Abodi.
“On the day of remembrance we are all in an ideal contemplation in front of every foiba, every stone or monument in front of the many simple wooden crosses” so as not to forget “one of the darkest pages of our homeland”. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani remember those victims whose names “finally emerge”. And he adds: “We have broken down the wall of oblivion”.
Tajaniin his speech, recalls how “unfortunately” the foibe “they are not the only act of ethnic cleansing which plagued the Balkans in the 20th century. Indeed, it can be said that they anticipated other tragedies, which half a century later would accompany the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. But naturally this is the drama that concerns us most closely, that affects us most painfully.” For this reason, the minister recalls, “the Berlusconi government in 2004 decided to establish the day of remembrance on 10 February, as a dutiful homage to the victims and as a warning so that similar tragedies are not repeated”. Remembering “is a moral, civil and political duty, but in no way does it mean reopening ancient conflicts. Those responsible for those massacres are natural persons who have long since disappeared, part of an armed force, the expression of a now dissolved state, the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Army, led by Marshal Tito, and were inspired by an ideology defeated by history. The states that replaced the former Yugoslavia bear no responsibility for the violence of that time.”
The minister underlines that “today, new shadows are gathering over peace. The peaceful international order, based on rules, is being questioned in many areas of the world, and also on our continent. Today more than ever, Europe and Atlantic Alliance are facing decisive challenges to outline what the world will be in the decades to come.”
“Working for a just peace – claims Tajani – respectful of the rights of peoples and the sovereignty of nations is the only way we have to truly say ‘never again’ and preserve the memory of an Italian tragedy. This is the best way to honor to the victims of the foibe”. Remembering “that season of conflicts – states the Foreign Minister – through materials now available to all, allows us to perceive even better the great value of peace, of profitable and cordial coexistence between different peoples but united by a common European identity. It is This is the great value of Europe, the reason that – before any other – makes us profoundly, convinced pro-Europeans. The great dream of Adenauer, of Schuman, of De Gasperi, leaders of nations that had fought bitterly until a few years earlier and who decided to embark on a common path towards a different future”.
“The foibe and the exodus represented a painful trauma for the nascent Republic which found itself facing the burdensome legacy of a country defeated by the war. Those events constitute a tragedy, which cannot be forgotten. Pages of history cannot be erased , tragic and harshly suffered. Attempts to forget, deny or minimize are an affront to the victims and their families and an inestimable damage to the collective conscience of a people and a nation.”
And referring to the conflicts underway in Ukraine, Middle East and in other areas of worldMattarella reiterates that against “the dark pages of history, even of Europe” which “seem to want to propose again we have a strong antidote and we must consolidate and develop it more and more. The construction of theEuropean Uniondespite its delays and shortcomings, represented, as Professor Rossi clearly pointed out, the repudiation of barbarism provoked by all the totalitarianisms of the twentieth century and the concrete and valid direction of travel to look to the future with confidence and hope. In this context, in the splendid lands we are talking about, today, thanks to our common belonging to the European Union, there are no longer barriers or borders, but roads and bridges”.
Thus, “the establishment of Remembrance Day, with many initiatives resulting from it, with research, books, debates, has had the merit of reconnecting the collective memory to that period and to those sufferings, after years of removal. You brought truth to many innocent victims and the pain of their families. All this was important, necessary, right. But it is not enough”, explained the Head of State, according to whom “the memory, the memory of persecution and tragedies, must be fruitful, it must produce antibodies, it must bring us, as they underlined, with simplicity and extraordinary effectiveness, Lada and Alessandra Rivaroli, to ensure that similar cruel lacerations towards freedom, respect for human rights and coexistence belong to an unrepeatable past. Despite these tragic experiences of the past, we witness with anguish even today, not far from us, the resurgence of bloody conflicts, in the name of hatred, exasperated nationalism, racism”.
For the occasion, the docufilms entitled “Kevina Jama – La Foiba Grande” will be screened, with the intervention of the protagonist Alessandra Rivaroli, and the reading of a passage taken from the book “Who’s afraid of the black man” by Graziella Fiorentin. During the ceremony, conducted by the actress Viola Graziosi, she read the testimonies of the exiles from Istria and Dalmatia and family members of victims of the foibe.
Remembrance Day was created in memory of the victims of the foibe and the Italians forced to exodus from the former Italian provinces of Venezia Giulia, Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia is a topic that still divides. In 1943, after three years of war, Mussolini’s regime had come to an end. What followed was the surrender of 8 September, the dissolution of the Fascist Party, the disintegration of our Armed Forces. In the Balkans, and particularly in Croatia and Slovenia, the two Balkan regions bordering Italy, the collapse of the Italian army had involved the two capitals, Zagreb (Croatia) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).
Here the communist political forces led by Josip Broz, nom de guerre “Tito”, had gained the upper hand. The first wave of violence exploded just after the signing of the armistice, on 8 September 1943: in Istria and Dalmatia, Tito’s Yugoslav partisans took revenge against the fascists who, in the interval between the two wars, had administered these territories with harshness, imposing forced Italianization and repressing and opposing the local Slavic populations. With the collapse of the regime, fascists and all non-communist Italians were considered enemies of the people, many tortured and then thrown into foibe. It is estimated that around a thousand people died. The first victims of a long trail of blood.
The Senate adheres to the initiatives planned for the Day of Remembrance, in memory of the victims of the foibe, of the Julian-Dalmatian exodus and of the events on the eastern border, illuminating the façade of Palazzo Madama with the Tricolor from 9pm today until dawn on Sunday 11 February and displaying the flags at half-mast. Tomorrow, from 6pm until 1am on Sunday, the façade of Montecitorio will also be lit up with the Tricolore.