Essay on the foibe: history of the foibe massacres, where they are located and why they are important in the history of the twentieth century.
The story of the Istrian foibe represents a particular and, until recently, not very well-known moment in the history of the twentieth century . To realize this, it would be enough to browse the pages of any history book and verify that the drama of the foibe is not mentioned in any chapter. And yet, the massacre happened, only that, like other tragic events, such as the Holocaust , it was kept hidden.
Development
The Istrian horror has its origins at the end of the Great War when, following the victory, Italy took control of the entire Istrian area, causing discontent among the local population. The new Italian administration, in fact, was much more rigid than the previous Austro-Hungarian one, which already had a lot of experience in the administration of territories including multiple ethnic groups, such as Istria.
The Italian leadership, moreover, was proving intolerant towards Slavic customs and habits, to the point of even prohibiting the use of the language itself. To make matters worse, the Italians also caused the complete decay of the Trieste area, a source of great resources for the local economy, which was already suffering from the serious crisis of ’29 . All this had serious consequences for the Istrian population who, feeling occupied, began to develop a real resistance, made up mostly of communists.
The phenomenon of the foibe began in the autumn of ’43, after the armistice, when Slavic partisans persecuted and killed thousands of Italian citizens, classified as enemies of the people. The foibe , however, reached their maximum intensity during the Yugoslav occupation of Trieste: Tito’s army reached the city on May 1, 1945, preceding the Anglo-Americans, starting a brutal massacre involving Italian soldiers and civilians, but also Slovenian and Croatian citizens. The massacre continued even after the arrival of the New Zealanders: it ended only on June 9, when the Morgan demarcation line was drawn, which returned to the Italians several territories under the control of the Slavs. A step of fundamental importance for the Istrian question was the armistice of 8 September 1943 , which saw the rise to power of the communist anti-fascists and the armed organisation of the Slovenian combat units, which until then had only dedicated themselves to actions of little social importance.
The main concern of the new power units was the annexation to Croatia and, later, to Yugoslavia: however, these events were considered as realities already in progress, to be defended by force. In the area, therefore, the first arrests began: initially it was the Italian anti-fascists themselves who imprisoned squadristi and hierarchs ; alongside them there were the Croatian insurgents, who raged against the representatives of the state, such as mayors, carabinieri, postal workers, tax collectors. It was necessary to completely eliminate the memory of the Italian administration: only that, as time went by, the issue widened to involve even ordinary citizens. The orders of the Titoites, in fact, were to eliminate all enemies of the people, that is, anyone who opposed the liberation movement led by Tito.
The fate of those arrested was therefore sealed: at first they were deported to various collection points, such as the city of Pisino; following unjust trials, they were sentenced to death.
Many died in concentration camps or, in the case of soldiers, during transfer marches, which turned into real death walks. Executions took place in the sinkholes : the prisoners, after torture of every kind, were led to the edge of the sinkholes and tied to each other with wire tied to their wrists with pliers. Finally, one of the soldiers shot the leading member of the group of condemned men, who dragged the rest of his companions, still alive, into the sinkhole. Other times, however, capital sentences were carried out without any trial, after capture. Other times, however, capital sentences were carried out without any trial, after capture.
Behind the barbaric executions , we can identify common objectives: first of all, the desire for annexation to Yugoslavia, then the will to show their capacity for rebellion following the wrongs suffered. The fact is that, despite the success or failure of these objectives, the phenomenon of the foibe has caused a large number of victims, between 10,000 and 15,000 people, whose history has been totally and unjustly erased from people’s memory.
