Page 13 - Dark Shades of Istria
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1.1 Background and Rationale for the Study
gionalists’ can go in Croatia, is also evident from the regional anthem
(Krasna zemljo, Istro mila) and statute of the county, which has all the
characteristics of the national Constitution (Raos, 2014, p. 38).³ Due to
a different approach to regionalisation, Slovenian Istria is not a formal
region, but it still has an anthem (Vstajenje Primorske) that is common
to the whole of western Slovenia. This is not just a post-independence
trend or fashion, considering that Istria already had a song that sounded
like an anthem in the late 19th century – Inno all’Istria (‘Anthem to Is-
tria’). However, many other ‘anthems’ created in the late 19th and the
first half of 20th century became the symbol of Italian irredentism and,
much later, after the Second World War (wwi i), the symbol of the Ital-
ian exodus,⁴ which was not particularly welcomed during the post-wwi i
period (Di Paoli Paulovich, 2012). D’Alessio (2012a) claims that the sec-
ond half of the 20th century witnessed a wide circulation of emotionally
coloured words, which socialised stereotypes, populisms and the politi-
cisation of topics, and which blocked trans-border collaboration in the
Upper Adriatic. The research of Cattunar (in D’Alessio, 2012a) demon-
strates that memories of older Italians with their own traumatic experi-
ence are significantly linked to the division of the nation and their own
explanations of the local/regional history. It can be added that these divi-
sions are not only rooted in different national origins, but also in different
ideological orientations.
Traumatic historical events – the Great War (wwi), the period of fas-
cism, wwi i, the revolutionary post-wwi i period and the War of Inde-
pendence in the 1990s – with frequent changes in power – affected Is-
tria’s people of all nationalities. Because of its geostrategic position, multi-
ethnic Istria was an area of constant conflict and, thus, an area with rein-
forced military presence (a militarised area) (see chapters 5 ‘Trans-Border
Region of Istria’ and 6 ‘Memories and Dark Tourism in Istria’).⁵ Today,
on the other hand, it is a recognisable area of peace and coexistence. In
³ See also the Statute of the Istrian County (Statut Istarske županije, 2009).
⁴ The term ‘exodus’ is used only as a (shorter) synonym for the population movement,
which was already defined in the Dictionary of Sociology by Fairchild (1944, p. 226) as ‘a
transfer of human groups from one geographic setting to another.’ This means that only
the sociological perspective of the term is taken into consideration in this study and not
some others, e.g. the legal, political, or geostrategic, which are, on the other hand, also
relevant for the study of the 20th century in the Upper Adriatic when not only Istrian
Italians moved.
⁵ The complex Istrian history is presented in a manageable way in Darovec (2008).
13
gionalists’ can go in Croatia, is also evident from the regional anthem
(Krasna zemljo, Istro mila) and statute of the county, which has all the
characteristics of the national Constitution (Raos, 2014, p. 38).³ Due to
a different approach to regionalisation, Slovenian Istria is not a formal
region, but it still has an anthem (Vstajenje Primorske) that is common
to the whole of western Slovenia. This is not just a post-independence
trend or fashion, considering that Istria already had a song that sounded
like an anthem in the late 19th century – Inno all’Istria (‘Anthem to Is-
tria’). However, many other ‘anthems’ created in the late 19th and the
first half of 20th century became the symbol of Italian irredentism and,
much later, after the Second World War (wwi i), the symbol of the Ital-
ian exodus,⁴ which was not particularly welcomed during the post-wwi i
period (Di Paoli Paulovich, 2012). D’Alessio (2012a) claims that the sec-
ond half of the 20th century witnessed a wide circulation of emotionally
coloured words, which socialised stereotypes, populisms and the politi-
cisation of topics, and which blocked trans-border collaboration in the
Upper Adriatic. The research of Cattunar (in D’Alessio, 2012a) demon-
strates that memories of older Italians with their own traumatic experi-
ence are significantly linked to the division of the nation and their own
explanations of the local/regional history. It can be added that these divi-
sions are not only rooted in different national origins, but also in different
ideological orientations.
Traumatic historical events – the Great War (wwi), the period of fas-
cism, wwi i, the revolutionary post-wwi i period and the War of Inde-
pendence in the 1990s – with frequent changes in power – affected Is-
tria’s people of all nationalities. Because of its geostrategic position, multi-
ethnic Istria was an area of constant conflict and, thus, an area with rein-
forced military presence (a militarised area) (see chapters 5 ‘Trans-Border
Region of Istria’ and 6 ‘Memories and Dark Tourism in Istria’).⁵ Today,
on the other hand, it is a recognisable area of peace and coexistence. In
³ See also the Statute of the Istrian County (Statut Istarske županije, 2009).
⁴ The term ‘exodus’ is used only as a (shorter) synonym for the population movement,
which was already defined in the Dictionary of Sociology by Fairchild (1944, p. 226) as ‘a
transfer of human groups from one geographic setting to another.’ This means that only
the sociological perspective of the term is taken into consideration in this study and not
some others, e.g. the legal, political, or geostrategic, which are, on the other hand, also
relevant for the study of the 20th century in the Upper Adriatic when not only Istrian
Italians moved.
⁵ The complex Istrian history is presented in a manageable way in Darovec (2008).
13
