Comments on: Bloodthirsty Slavs vs. Racist, Revisionist Italians

By: Maria

Maria — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:21:24 +0000

The author seems to forget that Istria Fiume and Dalmazia have been inhabited by Italic people, civilization and culture for over 2,000 years. The Slavs are the newcommers and aggressors to the Adriatic, arriving only after the sixth century AD. Italia’s attempts to regain her stolen property (Istria Fiume Dalmazia) cannot be seen as “occupation” but rather liberation from artificial and cultureless nations that had no right to occupy our lands in the first place. It seems by ignoring facts, the author is the one revising history. The Italian people, especially in Venezia-Giulia, will never forgive Italian government for the Osimo betrayal in 1975. The author should defend the Latin Civilization which he is indebted to rather than the primitive bloodthirsty peoples of the Balkans.

By: Nobilhuomo

Nobilhuomo — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:32:58 +0000

Dear All, as a Venetian living in Singapore, I would like to say that the word “Italians” does not really portray a homogeneous identity. As you can see from the frequent changes of government in the Peninsula, Italy has long been split between two major factions: a more conservative and fascistic one, and a more enlightened and democratic one. During WW2 not everybody agreed with the rule of the Duce. And those who did not were often forced to drink rycin oil, they were beaten up and often killed. Some managed to escape. Finally a number of Italians chose to go abroad to be able to live a more meaningful life where they would not be forced to suffer all the crap that a medieval mentality would impose onto them at “home”. This said, I would imagine that those Italian (or Venetian) speaking on the Dalmatian coast were most probably also not homogeneously the same. Nowadays money is what matters, above all.

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 20:51:04 +0000

As a nihilist, I’m wondering whether there’s any chance of getting the Austrians involved. Most of that territory is really theirs, you know. And when they ruled Triests you had Joyce, Svevo, and Saba, and now — nothing.

By: neretva river

neretva river — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:36:58 +0000

Stelios,

Good point. For some reason much of the international media didn’t pick up on the fact that Napolitano awarded a medal to Vincenzo Serrentino, the WWII-era police chief of Zadar who was responsible for numerous extra-judicial killings. That medal had nothing to do with the Foibe killings as Serrentino was executed by Yugoslav authorities in 1947.

By: Michael M.

Michael M. — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:58:30 +0000

The whole issue does seem to flare up every once in a while. Part of the problem, I think, is that students in the former Yugoslavia learned pretty much zilch about any of the post-war killings. (It’s also worth mentioning that Germans in the east faced a similar fate.)

Most Slovenes I’ve spoken to know vaguely about the Foibe massacres; there certainly isn’t much guilt about it. To wit: The otherwise very left leaning magazine Mladina once made an online “Foibe Game”: It’s like Tetris, except you drop dead Italians (or Partisans) into a pit. (It’s here: http://www.mladina.si/projekti/igre/sprava/ Click on the TOREJ arrow to play.)

However, what people do know is that 1) Yugoslavia was cheated out of Trieste and 2) The Italians turned Ljubljana into one gigantic concentration camp during the war. I think this plays a big part in a lot of these problems.

For the record, though, the Italian president’s comments were way out of line.

By: Italian hypocrisy

Italian hypocrisy — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 06:36:36 +0000

The Italians are conveniently forgetting that in their brutal attempt to “Italianize” the Slovenes, Croats, and Montenegrins during WWII, that they killed 80,000 people. The Italians furthermore are also conveniently forgetting that they trained and supported the Ustasha and that these Italian-trained fascist terrorists were put into power by Italy and Germany to serve their own purposes. Italy was the aggressor in all respects, Italy was even responsible for the horrors of the fascist terrorists they harboured, trained, and placed into power with the help of their German allies.

It is the Italians who owe the Slovenes, Croats, and Montenegrins an apology. They got off very, very lightly for their role in WWII.

By: Doug (not Muir)

Doug (not Muir) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 05:08:44 +0000

Doug, I agree that the Sudeten Germans and their descendents are out of luck in terms of compensation and such (and I think their organizations’ effects on German politics now are almost entirely pernicious), but I seem to recall Havel and other leaders acknowledging that Czechs also committed injustices against Germans (just think of the life of a social democratically inclined family from the Sudetenland) without in any way slighting the actual history involved.

Right to buy land I can see. How long does the EU permit derogations on land purchase to continue? Indefinitely? That doesn’t fit well with the single market; on the other hand, I think I’ve heard of long-term-ish restrictions in Denmark, so maybe there’s an exception. Anyone know more?

By: Stelios

Stelios — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:17:24 +0000

I don’t get why a leftist italian president would want to give a medal to a fascist war criminal. This italian refugee comittee sounds a bit like Miami Cubans.

By: Doug M.

Doug M. — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 00:20:01 +0000

@Doug: “I wouldn’t exactly call it SOL.”

Well, I was focussing on the specific issue of getting compensation, or even an apology. Which is just not going to happen.

The Italians, on the other hand, are putting a certain amount of pressure on the former Yugoslavs. They already got some concessions from Slovenia… modest ones (basically giving Italians the right to buy land), but still much more than the Sudetendeutsch will ever have.

@Neretva: “The Croatian government really didn’t have a choice but to concede this one; however, in defense of Mesic he really could not have said nothing given the words Napolitano used.’

I agree on both these points! I think Mesic over-reacted, but I agree that he had to say *something* — Napolitano’s comments were really offensive.

Doug M.

By: neretva river

neretva river — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 23:37:53 +0000

The Croatian government really didn’t have a choice but to concede this one; however, in defense of Mesic he really could not have said nothing given the words Napolitano used.

Interestingly, Sanader didn’t exactly come running to Mesic defense as he understands that the longer this issue gets talked about the more likely Italy will get issues regarding Italian property rights/compensation attached to Croatia’s accession process.

Rather than diplomats being given all the credit on smoothing this one over, Croatia’s EU accession process is what really prevented the rhetorical fireworks from going on..