Sunday, February 11, 2007

"Foibe" Massacres raised in Answer to Croatian President Mesic’s Claims

The ANNOTICO Reports

 

This week Croatian President Stipe Mesic  made statements that the crimes after World War II had been the consequence of fascist crimes.

 

That is a LOT difficult to believe,since Croatia like Italy was an Ally of Germany during WWII, and the Croatian Ustache were as blood thirsty as the SS.

The Foibe massacres were mass killings attributed to Yugoslav partisans during and shortly after  WWII  against Italians. This bloodshed was the consequence of an exodus of Italians forced by the Yugoslavs from Istria, an ethnic cleansing of innocent civilians.

These Mass Killings of ethnic Italians were committed after the capitulation of Italy on September 8, 1943, and in 1945 when Yugoslav partisans under Tito's command entered Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia what had historically been a multiethnic borderland. In the aftermath, the city of  Treiste and the surroundings came, not without controversy, under Yugoslav military administration.

Estimates of the number of victims range from between 2,000 and 20,000, according to data gathered by a mixed Slovene-Italian historical commission established in 1993.This estimate does not include those killed in current Croatian territory.Prominent historians estimated the total number of victims at about 5,000. The killings of 1943 were the beginning of organized ethnic cleansing, while the episodes of 1945 appear to be both ethnic and political cleansing that drastically reduced the Italian population of Istria and Dalmatia between 1945 and 1947.

The Foibe have been a long-neglected subject in mainstream political debate, only recently garnering broader attention with the recent publication of several scholarly books and historical studies. It is thought that after World War II, politicians of Western European countries wanted to put mutual uncomfortable "past" deeds behind  and focus on the problems the Cold War presented.

 

'Italians are Victims of Slavic Expansionism'

 

Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Italian Republic, commented on crimes over Italians by Slavic expansionists.

On occasion of the marking of the anniversary of the peace accords of 1947, the Italian President stressed in Rome that he would no longer remain quiet about the bloodthirsty hatred and Slavic annexionistic tendencies. 

-- These tendencies have taken the shape of ethnic cleansing, especially in the peace accords of 1947  Napolitano said.

He stressed that the tragedy of Italians had not been spoken of because of international conformism.

-- Now that Slovenia has joined the European Union and when Croatia is becoming a candidate for accession, it must be our obligation to tell the truth  Napolitano said.

According to the Jutarnji list daily, Napolitano thus wished to respond to Croatian President Stipe Mesics statement that the crimes after World War II had been the consequence of fascist crimes

 

 

The ANNOTICO Reports

Can be Viewed, and are Archived at:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com (Formerly Italy at St Louis)

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net