ROME – Italy’s February 10 “Day of Mourning” requires more consideration than is immediately obvious to non-Italian outsiders, given the way it poignantly captures the politics of memory. It’s worth it.
On the other hand, Memorial Day, which commemorates a series of events from World War II and its immediate aftermath, may seem rather unremarkable. It is an annual homage to an event from an increasingly distant past, not to mention how Italy has seen it. A lot of history spanning over 3,000 years, you’ll probably find something he can observe every day of the year without breaking a sweat.
But this event captures the hard truth that the suffering and heroism of some people is more emphasized than others in our collective imagination. This is not due to differences in moral qualities or importance, but to dirty political calculations.
That is true in the wider world, but sadly it is sometimes true both in terms of how the Catholic Church is viewed and treated by outsiders, and in terms of the way the Catholic Church conducts itself today. Masu.
of Giorno del Ricordo, or “Day of Remembrance”, was an event in the occupied Istrian peninsula (meaning the border area between Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia) during and after World War II, part of whose territory was cut off from Italy and occupied. It is an annual event in Italy that reminds us of. by then Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav army, led by Marshal Tito who came to power in 1943, launched a vicious “slavization” campaign in the region, killing around 12,000 to 15,000 unarmed and defenseless Italian civilians and disposing of their bodies. was thrown into a deep mountain canyon known as “slabification.” Phoibewhile condemning at least 350,000 Italians to permanent exile.
Entire cities, such as Pola in Croatia, which had flourished pre-war Italian majorities, were essentially “de-Italianized” overnight in an early form of what would become known as ethnic cleansing.
Hundreds of thousands of people who formed the resulting exodus arrived in Italy, which was reeling from the devastation and poverty the war had left behind. They were not welcomed with open arms. In many cases, they were told: Istrian, non-Italianmeaning “Istrian, not Italian” and is treated like a foreigner.
Today, many historians consider the treatment of the exiles to be a source of national shame.
Another aspect of Tito’s efforts to de-Italianize the region was the Yugoslav regime’s Marxist ideology and the perception that the region’s Catholic leadership, particularly the predominantly Italian clergy and episcopacy, was illegitimate. It was an attack on the Catholic Church by both. He looked to Rome rather than Belgrade.
Typical of the atrocities of the time is the story of Father Angelo Tarticchio, a 36-year-old parish priest who died in 1943. He was captured by Yugoslav partisans in 1943 along with 30 parishioners. He was tortured and eventually executed by having his body thrown in. Nearby bauxite cave. When his body was later discovered, Tarticchio was found naked, with a crown of thorns mockingly placed on his head, and his genitals severed and stuffed down his throat. .
Father Francesco Bonifacio suffered a similar fate. He was captured in 1946 by a group of Tito’s People’s Guards, beaten with stones and then killed with a knife, and his body presumably thrown into a mass grave. Never found. Bonifacio he was beatified in 2008.
It is worth noting that the victims were not only of Italian descent. For example, Father Miroslav Bresic, a Croatian priest who was killed by Tito’s forces for protecting the Eucharist during an attack on a church in 1947, was beatified in 2013.
One might think that such horrors would have been met with a “never again” perspective by Italians from all walks of life over the past 80 years. Children will learn about such events in school, and they will expect books to be written, films to be made, monuments to be erected, and days of remembrance to be publicly proclaimed.
In fact, Italy has only officially declared it since 2004. Giorno del RicordoAnd to this day, many average Italians still do not know this story.the first feature film about Phoibe and it’s called Exodus Il Cuore nel Pozzo(“Heart in the Well”) didn’t appear until 2005 when it was aired as a two-part miniseries on the national broadcast network RAI (I highly recommend this movie).
Why is it ignored? Communists had a large presence in the partisan resistance activities against the Nazis in Italy during World War II, and the Italian Communist Party had a deep influence on Italian politics in the post-war period. As a result, many on the Italian left were reluctant to accept a commemoration that could look like a hawkish, Cold War-era anti-communist movement, while some on the Italian conservative side were reluctant to accept it for the very same reasons. I turned the promotion of days like this into a fetish.
That negative atmosphere exists to this day. A banner reading: Giorno della Menzoniaor “Day of Lies”, in Florence a plaque honoring the Istrian martyrs was defaced.
Some objected to commemorating the anniversary on February 10, the day Italian territory was finally ceded to Yugoslavia in 1947 under the Treaty of Paris. This date will be just two weeks after the performance on January 27th. giorno della memoriathe annual Italian Day of Remembrance for the Holocaust, and some critics felt this proximity was a way to downplay the dark legacy of Italian fascism.
Whatever the reasons for the vagueness, the fact of the matter is that the memory of what happened in Istria hit what Italian President Sergio Mattarella on February 9th called “a wall of silence and oblivion” that This means that it has not yet been completely elucidated. Collapse.
“These events are a tragedy that we will never forget,” Mattarella said. “The tragic and harsh pages of history cannot be erased. Any attempt to ignore, deny or downplay them is an insult to the victims and their families and an immeasurable threat to the collective conscience of our people and nation. No damage done.”
The same point applies specifically to Catholic terminology. Most Italian Catholics probably think more of the famous non-Italian martyrs of World War II like St. Edith Stein and St. Maximilian Kolbe than of contemporary Italian martyrs like Tarticchio and Bonifacio. You will be able to speak much more knowledgeably about them. .
In this sense, the Italian War Memorial Day has significance beyond Italy. Indeed, this means that if we are not careful, politics will not only polarize the present, but also colonize the past, distorting our perceptions, and at the expense of some at the expense of others. It is a permanent reminder that sacrifices come into consideration.
Especially for a church whose very name means “universal,” this is certainly a lesson worth taking, especially in politically polarized times and on important issues. Nationwide and EU elections It will happen in 2024.
Photo: A young Italian exile from Istria in 1945. (Credit: Wikicommons, via Crux.)
