Page 260 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja. 2021. V tišini spomina: "eksodus" in Istra. Koper, Trst: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Založništvo tržaškega tiska
P. 260
mary
The conflicts between national collective memories about who is the vic-
tim and who the perpetrator, what may be remembered and what must
be forgotten, also reverberate on the regional level, thereby influencing
the coexistence of the affected communities. In this context, certain com-
memorative speeches made next to the anti-fascist monument in Strun-
jan/Strugnano were analysed since they perpetuate the Slovenian concept
of a heroic anti-fascist and national-liberation struggle and victimhood,
while publicly criminalising the Italians as fascists. Owing to this, the Is-
trian Italians, most of whom stayed in Istria due to their faith in the social-
ist system, have been wronged and marginalised in the Slovenian national
discourse over and over again. Not many political speeches allow for re-
flection on the darker sides of our own past that arise from the ‘exodus,’
by bringing into focus the multicultural co-existence and common multi-
ethnic anti-fascist struggle. Such rare, exceptional discourses pave the way
for a shared European memory in which national memories should estab-
lish victim and perpetrator consciousness by confronting their own mem-
ories, including the ignored ones, and by listening to ‘others’ with empathy
(Assmann 2007).
Despite the prevalence of competing political discourses, a few interna-
tional reconciliation attempts have been made between Slovenia, Croatia
and Italy, yet they unfortunately failed to produce a long-term effect in
public. Perhaps the last attempt, at the time this book is being written, will
bring a different result. Voices of reconciliation can also be perceived in fic-
tion, especially among Istrian writers with Slovenian, Croatian or Italian
roots. They recount stories about the life of those who stayed, about pro-
found uncertainties of fascism, the Second World War and the ‘exodus,’ the
divided communities, scattered memories, hybrid identities, the lost lan-
guage, memory places and identity, about the new Istrian society . . . In his
book, Milan Rakovac depicts what the Slovenian and Croatian public dis-
course has been refusing to admit, namely that, with the ‘exodus,’ Italians
in Istria were punished for the never acknowledged fascist violence and
deep-rooted superiority of the ‘civilised Italians’ over the ‘barbaric Slavs,’
derogatorily called ‘sciavi’ (slaves).
Most Istrian writers problematise the subject of the superiority of the
Italian population in Istria, equating it with the urban and civilised vs. the
Slavic, rural and barbaric. Researchers note this conflict should also be read
in the light of the social and class oppositions, not only ethnic, whereby
these rooted conceptions have been proven to be relatively unfounded,
arising from stereotypes. Fascism’s impact on the interrupted growth of
258
The conflicts between national collective memories about who is the vic-
tim and who the perpetrator, what may be remembered and what must
be forgotten, also reverberate on the regional level, thereby influencing
the coexistence of the affected communities. In this context, certain com-
memorative speeches made next to the anti-fascist monument in Strun-
jan/Strugnano were analysed since they perpetuate the Slovenian concept
of a heroic anti-fascist and national-liberation struggle and victimhood,
while publicly criminalising the Italians as fascists. Owing to this, the Is-
trian Italians, most of whom stayed in Istria due to their faith in the social-
ist system, have been wronged and marginalised in the Slovenian national
discourse over and over again. Not many political speeches allow for re-
flection on the darker sides of our own past that arise from the ‘exodus,’
by bringing into focus the multicultural co-existence and common multi-
ethnic anti-fascist struggle. Such rare, exceptional discourses pave the way
for a shared European memory in which national memories should estab-
lish victim and perpetrator consciousness by confronting their own mem-
ories, including the ignored ones, and by listening to ‘others’ with empathy
(Assmann 2007).
Despite the prevalence of competing political discourses, a few interna-
tional reconciliation attempts have been made between Slovenia, Croatia
and Italy, yet they unfortunately failed to produce a long-term effect in
public. Perhaps the last attempt, at the time this book is being written, will
bring a different result. Voices of reconciliation can also be perceived in fic-
tion, especially among Istrian writers with Slovenian, Croatian or Italian
roots. They recount stories about the life of those who stayed, about pro-
found uncertainties of fascism, the Second World War and the ‘exodus,’ the
divided communities, scattered memories, hybrid identities, the lost lan-
guage, memory places and identity, about the new Istrian society . . . In his
book, Milan Rakovac depicts what the Slovenian and Croatian public dis-
course has been refusing to admit, namely that, with the ‘exodus,’ Italians
in Istria were punished for the never acknowledged fascist violence and
deep-rooted superiority of the ‘civilised Italians’ over the ‘barbaric Slavs,’
derogatorily called ‘sciavi’ (slaves).
Most Istrian writers problematise the subject of the superiority of the
Italian population in Istria, equating it with the urban and civilised vs. the
Slavic, rural and barbaric. Researchers note this conflict should also be read
in the light of the social and class oppositions, not only ethnic, whereby
these rooted conceptions have been proven to be relatively unfounded,
arising from stereotypes. Fascism’s impact on the interrupted growth of
258
