Page 261 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja. 2021. V tišini spomina: "eksodus" in Istra. Koper, Trst: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Založništvo tržaškega tiska
P. 261
Summary
Slovenian and Croatian ethnic elements in the urban environment has also
been disregarded.
The reconciliation attempts include the theatre show Magazzino 18 that
constitutes a sort of national acknowledgement of the suffering of those
Italians who remained in Istria, while researchers reproach it for falsifying
history. A mono-focal view of the past is also characteristic of other films
dedicated to the distressing border issues. A step closer to listening to oth-
ers are narrative evenings and books about life stories in Istria. Except for
the multiculturally-oriented museum in Rovinj/Rovigno, museums in the
North Adriatic area unfortunately perpetuate their own national truths
and subconsciously create a competitive struggle for symbolic control of
the sea, thus mapping the ethnic-national identities onto this territory
(Ballinger 2006a).
The few attempts at reconciliation aside, different ethnic communities
in the Upper Adriatic each focus on their own collective memory based
on the black-and-white victim/perpetrator dichotomy. Hence, every ethnic
community lives with its own painful truth that collides with the painful
truth of the ‘other’ and, instead of reconciliation, creates an even greater
hatred which, through the manipulation of people’s torment, becomes fer-
tile ground for politics by manipulating people’s suffering.
‘The Exodus:’ About Those Who Leave, Those Who Stay,
and Those Who Arrive
The number of emigrants from the entire Istria ranges from 200,000 to
300,000, and depends on individual national discourse. There are slightly
fewer than 28,000 ‘optants’ from the Slovenian part of Istria, most of
whom (70) are Italians while the rest are Slovenians and Croats. The na-
tive population of Istria dropped to below half in 1960, of whom 33 were
in towns where the Italians dominated. The ‘exodus,’ enabled by two in-
ternational treaties, the Paris Peace Treaty (1947) and the London Memo-
randum (1954), was not a uniform migration process. The biggest popula-
tion decline was recorded in 1956 when the ‘exodus’ was completed. Com-
pared to 1945, the Italian population had shrunk by 92. The pinnacle of
the ‘exodus’ came 1.5 years after 1954, when Zone B of the Free Territory
of Trieste was annexed to Yugoslavia. The different intensity of emigration
which was the most massive after the London Memorandum, when it be-
came clear that Istria would remain under Yugoslav rule, is engrained in
people’s memories.
As a counterweight to the Istrian ‘exodus,’ the ‘counter-exodus’ is also
259
Slovenian and Croatian ethnic elements in the urban environment has also
been disregarded.
The reconciliation attempts include the theatre show Magazzino 18 that
constitutes a sort of national acknowledgement of the suffering of those
Italians who remained in Istria, while researchers reproach it for falsifying
history. A mono-focal view of the past is also characteristic of other films
dedicated to the distressing border issues. A step closer to listening to oth-
ers are narrative evenings and books about life stories in Istria. Except for
the multiculturally-oriented museum in Rovinj/Rovigno, museums in the
North Adriatic area unfortunately perpetuate their own national truths
and subconsciously create a competitive struggle for symbolic control of
the sea, thus mapping the ethnic-national identities onto this territory
(Ballinger 2006a).
The few attempts at reconciliation aside, different ethnic communities
in the Upper Adriatic each focus on their own collective memory based
on the black-and-white victim/perpetrator dichotomy. Hence, every ethnic
community lives with its own painful truth that collides with the painful
truth of the ‘other’ and, instead of reconciliation, creates an even greater
hatred which, through the manipulation of people’s torment, becomes fer-
tile ground for politics by manipulating people’s suffering.
‘The Exodus:’ About Those Who Leave, Those Who Stay,
and Those Who Arrive
The number of emigrants from the entire Istria ranges from 200,000 to
300,000, and depends on individual national discourse. There are slightly
fewer than 28,000 ‘optants’ from the Slovenian part of Istria, most of
whom (70) are Italians while the rest are Slovenians and Croats. The na-
tive population of Istria dropped to below half in 1960, of whom 33 were
in towns where the Italians dominated. The ‘exodus,’ enabled by two in-
ternational treaties, the Paris Peace Treaty (1947) and the London Memo-
randum (1954), was not a uniform migration process. The biggest popula-
tion decline was recorded in 1956 when the ‘exodus’ was completed. Com-
pared to 1945, the Italian population had shrunk by 92. The pinnacle of
the ‘exodus’ came 1.5 years after 1954, when Zone B of the Free Territory
of Trieste was annexed to Yugoslavia. The different intensity of emigration
which was the most massive after the London Memorandum, when it be-
came clear that Istria would remain under Yugoslav rule, is engrained in
people’s memories.
As a counterweight to the Istrian ‘exodus,’ the ‘counter-exodus’ is also
259
