Lower House Speaker Laura
Boldrini urged Italians to remember victims of intolerance and
war as the nation marked a Day of Memory for thousands of
Italians killed by Yugoslav partisan violence around the end of
the Second World War.
"This day is dedicated to remembering, and also as a
warning for the present and for the future against any forms of
intolerance, war and any attempt to hide the truth," said
Boldrini, to loud applause in the Lower House.
Some 15,000 Italians living in the Istrian peninsula, in
today's Slovenia and Croatia, are believed to have died in the
foibe - narrow mountain gorges - used to execute perceived
enemies of the communist government of then-president Josef
Tito.
Italians who had lived for centuries in the regions of
Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia were attacked by Slovene and Croatian
partisans, some in reprisal for Italian occupation of Istria
during the war and others blamed for Fascist activities.
The killings creating long-lasting tensions in relations
between Italy and the present republics of Croatia and Slovenia
which have been accused of dragging their feet over compensation
for exiles.
Ceremonies were held all over Italy to remember what
ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi called "victims of communist
tyranny" including a service at Rome's Altar of the Fatherland
where Mayor Ignazio Marino laid a wreath as he spoke of a
"horrible tragedy" and denounced "the culture of nationalism
that many deaths, violence and pain brought on our continent".
Relatives of three victims of the foibe received awards
presented by Italian President Sergio Mattarella in one of his
first official events since his election less than two weeks
ago.
The Day of Memory was instituted in Italy in 2005.
Last week, Education Minister Stefania Giannini said
schoolchildren will be taught about "the tragic events that
obliged hundreds of thousands of Italians...to leave their
homes, breaking centuries of history and tradition".
Some in the former Yugoslavia have a different perspective.
Slovenian President Danilo Turk in 2009 accused Italy of
having an "ethical deficit" in its view of Fascism, which once
dominated Italian public life.
Turk said then that a formal act of reconciliation was
impossible while some Italian politicians still wanted "to put
Fascists and the people who fought against them on the same
level".
"We cannot forget the many Fascist crimes during the
Italian occupation (of the peninsula) that have gone
unpunished," Turk said at the time.
In contrast, Croatian president Stipe Mesic said at the
time that he would be in favour of an act of reconciliation that
would "honour innocent victims on all sides".
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