On July 13 1920, Italian black-shirts burnt down the National Hall of Trieste, a symbol of the Slovenian presence in the multi-ethnic city of Trst/Trieste, then went on to riot and destroy about twenty other Slovenian businesses and organisations in the city. Benito Mussolini, who became Il Duce two years later, praised the act as a "masterpiece of the Triestine fascism".
Now, a century later, Slovenian president Borut Pahor and Italian President Sergio Mattarella have met to sign a Letter of Intent to return the building to the Slovenian minority, recognizing an existence that has been so violently denied under Fascist rule and beyond.
As part of the ceremony, the highest state decorations of Slovenia and Italy were awarded to Boris Pahor, the Slovenian writer and humanist from Trieste, born in 1913 and a survivor of both life under Italian Fascism and that in a Nazi concentration camp.
Presidents Pahor and Mattarella then met with representatives of the Slovene national community in Italy and the Italian national community in Slovenia.
After that the Slovenian and Italian presidents visited the exhibition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the burning of the National Hall inside the building and signed their names into the Hall’s Golden Book.
STA, 13 July 2020 - National Hall, a Slovenian centre in the heart of Trieste, was formally handed over to the Slovenian minority in Italy, as a document on its ownership transfer was signed on Monday with Slovenian and Italian presidents Borut Pahor and Sergio Mattarella on hand exactly 100 years after the original building was burnt down by Fascists.
The document sets down a timeline of the full handover, which will take several years, as the centre currently hosts one of the Trieste University schools.
It was signed by representatives of Italian authorities at various levels, the university's chancellor and the heads of both minority organisations, the SSO and KGZS.
Slovenian and Italian politicians hailed it as a milestone for the Slovenian minority as well as Slovenia-Italy ties, but also for Europe, testifying to its values.
President Pahor labelled it a historic event and an act that happens once in a hundred years. "The injustice has been remedied, justice has been done," he said in his address.
"What we're witnessing today is the forbidden dream coming true." At least for a day and metaphorically, Trieste is the capital of the EU because it celebrates the finest of values which are the foundations of the EU, he said.
His Italian counterpart Mattarella said that history could not be erased and the hard experiences people had experienced in this area could not be forgotten.
"This is why the present and the future call us to act in a responsible manner," he said, adding he and Pahor took a major step towards a dialogue of two cultures.
Slovenian Trieste-born writer Boris Pahor, who witnessed the torching of National Hall as a seven-year old, attended the event and was on the occasion decorated with Slovenia and Italy's highest state orders.
President Pahor then visited National Hall, saying today's events can serve as an inspiration "for our common European home" and further encouragement of the co-existence between Slovenia and Italy. They are unprecedented in the history of both nations, signalling "a new era".
Apart from attending the National Hall restitution event, Pahor and Mattarella went to the town of Basovizza to lay wreaths at the memorials to Slovenian victims of Fascism and to Italian victims of post-WWII killings, and jointly meet representatives of the Slovenian and Italian minorities, in what is the first such meeting.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Anže Logar, who attended the National Hall event together with Minister for Slovenians Abroad Helena Jaklitsch, spoke of a new page in the common future of the two nations, not only in Trieste but also in the EU.
His ministry also took the opportunity to again urge Italy to adopt a report on Slovenian-Italian relations in 1880-1956 which a commission of Slovenian and Italian historians compiled in 2000, and to take its findings into account when interpreting the periods of history the report covers.
National Hall was build in 1904 by the prosperous Slovenians from the area of Trieste as a unique state-of-the-art centre of commerce and culture.
Members of Italian Fascist and nationalist groups set it to fire on 13 July 1920, burning it to the ground, and then attacked another 21 Slavic institutions in Trieste.
The arson severely affected the political situation in the region, fuelling ethnic hate between Italians and Slovenians. After the Fascists came to power in 1922, ethnic minorities, including the Slovenian one, became a target of severe assimilation.
The centre was later nationalised, the minority claimed it back, but Italy committed to return it only in the 2001 law on the safeguarding of the Slovenian minority.
The restitution event was more modest than planned due to Covid-19 and the main cultural event marking the centenary of the arson was rescheduled to 13 July 2021.
Meanwhile, at the memorials in Basovizza Pahor and Mattarella held hands while standing in front of them in sign of reconciliation.
The Memorial to Basovizza Heroes is a site of the execution of three Slovenians and one Croat whom the Fascist authorities killed in September 1930.
The men were members of an illegal organisation set up in 1927 to organise a fight against the Fascist regime and its violent assimilation policy.
The Foiba of Basovizza is meanwhile a Karst chasm which the Italians have chosen as their symbolic memorial site for the victims of post-war killings.
Italy believes the communists threw the executed Italians in it, whereas some historians say it has been proven empty.
Pahor's visit to the foiba memorial recently stirred controversy in Slovenia, with some fearing it would give the Italian revisionists of history a fresh impetus.
Some 150 protesters gathered at a border crossing to protest against Pahor's act and a group appeared at the Memorial to Basovizza Heroes after the commemoration, accusing Pahor of treason.
The head of the 13 July Not In My Name civil initiative, Mauro Dornik, said Pahor paid his respects at a chasm which historians proved was empty.
By doing so, he "confirmed that we are a genocidal nation which went about killing Italians just because they were Italians", not because they were Fascists, and thus sided with Fascists.
He said that Mattarella had not posthumously amnestied the Slovenian anti-Fascists killed in Basovizza, which proved both presidents' tribute to the Slovenian victims of Fascism was not sincere.
There was also some opposition to the restitution of National Hall on the Italian far-right, with the CasaPound movement staging a small protest in Trieste.
STA, 13 July 2020 - The presidents of Slovenia and Italy, Borut Pahor in Sergio Mattarella, laid wreaths at two memorials in the Italian town of Basovizza on Monday, one to the 1930 Slovenian victims of Fascism and the other to the Italian victims of post-WWII killings. As they stood in front of the memorials, the presidents held hands.
The Memorial to Basovizza Heroes is a memorial to three Slovenians and one Croat whom the Fascist authorities executed in Basovizza on 6 September 1930.
The men were members of an illegal organisation of Slovenian and Croatian youth set up in 1927 to organise a fight against the Fascist regime and its violent assimilation policy. Under Italian law, they are still considered terrorists.
The Foiba of Basovizza is meanwhile a Karst chasm which the Italians have chosen as their symbolic memorial site for the victims of post-war killings.
Italy believes the communists threw the executed Italians in it, whereas some historians say it has been proven empty.
Pahor's visit to the foiba memorial recently stirred controversy in Slovenia, with some fearing it would give the Italian revisionists of history a fresh impetus.
The commemoration was attended by representatives of several politicians and NGOs.
Senator Tatjana Rojc, a member of the Slovenian minority, said this was a historic day for Trieste and the area around the border between Slovenia and Italy.
She finds it key for the two presidents to have paid their respects at two symbolic sites chosen by the Slovenian and Italian communities as their memorial sites.
"I think this is the start of a new process, a new future on which we'll build our European identity," she told the press.
As for Pahor's visit to the foiba site, she said all the dead had the right to be respected and should not be abused for political agendas.
Similarly, Walter Bandelj of the SSO Slovenian minority organisation said this was a big day heralding the start of dialogue between the two states. He regretted it had not happened some ten years earlier.
He believes neither the Fascist atrocities nor what happened latter should be forgotten. What is needed is looking ahead and achieving reconciliation, he said.
The commemoration at the foiba will go down in history, because this is the first time that the president of a former Yugoslav republic has paid his respects to the Italian victims of post-war killings, according to Antonio Ballarin of an organisation representing the Italians who left Yugoslavia after WWII. They are known as "esuli" in Italian and "optanti" in Slovenian.
Before the Basovizza commemorations, an estimated 150 people gathered at the Fernetiči border crossing with Italy to protest against Pahor's laying a wreath at the foiba memorial, with one banner reading "traitor".
After the commemoration, a group of protestors gathered at the Memorial to Basoviza Heroes; head of the 13 July Not In My Name civil initiative, Mauro Dornik, said Pahor paid his respects at a chasm which historians proved was empty.
By doing so, Pahor "confirmed that we are a genocidal nation which went about killing Italians just because they were Italians" and sided with Fascists, he said.
Dornik believes this opens the door to the organisations representing the esuli to claim back the property they left behind in Istria and Dalmatia.
Mattarella has not posthumously amnestied the Slovenian anti-Fascists killed at the Memorial to Basovizza Heroes, which proves that both presidents' tribute to the Slovenian victims of Fascism was not sincere, he added.
A rally against Pahor's act and in support of the people of Primorska region, including Slovenians in Trieste, is also planned for tonight in Ljubljana.
The wreath-lying commemorations were held on the sideline of today's signing of a document which triggered the restitution of National Hall in Trieste to the Slovenian minority. The ceremony took place exactly 100 years since the Fascists burnt down National Hall.
Its restitution is seen by the Slovenian side as a symbolic act of reconciliation and of utmost importance for future ties between Slovenia and Italy.
It is meanwhile opposed by the Italian far-right movement CasaPound, which according to the Slovenian minority daily Primorski Dnevnik today mounted a protest in Trieste.
STA, 5 June 2020 - After Slovenia banned a concert by Marko Perković - Thompson, a Croatian nationalist singer, three years ago, recently a second attempt was made at organising it but the Maribor Administrative Unit again blocked the initiative. However, this time the Interior Ministry annulled the decision in a move that has caused quite a stir.
The ministry told the STA the decision to grant the appeal against what is the second banning of the concert had been made in line with a ruling of the Administrative Court and valid legislation.
The Maribor Administrative Unit was the first to block the controversial concert in 2017 as well, but more than two years after the concert was scheduled to take place the Maribor Administrative Court lifted the ban last June.
Marko Perković participated in the Croatian War of Independence (1991–95), during which he started his career with the patriotic song "Bojna Čavoglave".
Although the Maribor Administrative Unit stands behind the decision it made on 4 May, the procedure to ban the concert initiated by police is now stopped. According to the paper, the singer can now either stage the concert or claim compensation from Slovenia.
The head of the Maribor Administrative Unit, Srečko Đurov, told the STA today he believed the decision to ban the concert was correct but he was obligated to respect the ministry's decision.
"Promoting the Ustaše movement at a public event is a severe violation of human dignity. This is especially so in the case of Maribor, which was subject to horrible terror during the Second World War."
He said the administrative unit had granted the police's request to ban the concert "to protect the fundamentals of our constitutional order, which is the rule of law, human dignity and pluralism".
Thompson's speeches at his concerts are a "direct attack on the fundamental values of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Slovenian Constitution", Đurov said.
The Maribor Administrative Unit did not ban the planned concert because of the views and ideology of the organiser and signer, as the organiser claims, but because promoting the Ustaše movement and inciting hatred is not allowed at a public event in Slovenia, he stressed.
The concert organiser, Milan Trol, who initially wanted to organise the concert on 20 May 2017, told Radio Maribor that the concert would be carried out. "You will be notified of all the details when the time is right," he added.
The ministry's decision triggered a wave of criticism on Twitter, mainly among opposition parties but also from the head of the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC), Zdravko Počivalšek.
"Thompson's concert, which comes with promoting contempt of other nationalities, is not and must not be welcome in Slovenia. Any kind of incitement of national, racial, religious or any other intolerance is an insult to our values and a violation of our Constitution," he tweeted.
Marjan Šarec of the namesake LMŠ party said the government was "rehabilitating the Ustaše movement" and that the annulment of the concert ban was a "slap in the face to all those who suffered and bled including because of collaboration".
"The decision tramples on human dignity and gives recognition to the Ustaše regime. The fact that Thompson supports the Ustahsa is not a problem. The problem is that our government does," said the interim head of the Social Democrats (SD), Tanja Fajon.
Matej T. Vatovec of the Left said that while many countries were rejecting Thompson and banning his concerts, the Janez Janša government was doing everything for him to have a concert in Slovenia and "thus open the door to promotion of the Ustaše movement and Fascism".
President Borut Pahor's office also responded. "Based on the many questions the president has been receiving regarding a Thompson concert in Slovenia, we highlight that the president's view is the same as in 2017: It is not a matter of politics to allow or ban concerts but a matter of the organiser or relevant institutions to make sure the event is organised in line with the law and that public law and order is protected," the office said on Twitter.
"The president is not familiar with Marko Perković Thompson's music. However, he is familiar with his political views and he rejects them," the office added.
Parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič said such a concert had no place in Slovenia. He noted though that media had reported that the Administrative Court had lifted the ban on the first concert. "If that is the reason for the ministry's decision, then I will understand it, although I absolutely do not support this concert," he told reporters.
Thompson - his nickname he took from the gun he had used in Croatia's war of independence - has often been accused of extremist nationalist views due to some of the lyrics of his songs and due to the fact that youth wear Ustaše and Nazi symbols at his concerts.
STA, 4 June 2020 - One hundred years since National Hall in Trieste was burnt down by Fascists, Italy is expected to give this former state-of-the-art commercial and cultural centre of Slovenians in Italy back to the Slovenian ethnic minority. The symbolic gesture could bring about the much needed reconciliation between the minority and majority populations.
Narodni Dom, as is called in Slovenian, epitomised the economic and political power of Slovenians in Italy, which accounted for around 25% of Trieste population before WWI.
Its torching on 13 July 1920 symbolises the onset of Fascist violence against Slovenians. A pivotal report on Slovenian-Italian relations in 1880-1956, which was released in 2000 but has not been published in Italy to date, says the arson "publicly heralded the long-lasting violence against Slovenians".
The multi-purpose centre was launched in 1904 featuring a bank, a hotel, a library, a 400-seat theatre, a sports hall, a music school, a print shop and the newspaper Edinost, several associations, restaurants and bars as well as flats.
Prosperous Slovenian politicians and businessmen from Trieste, who were behind the idea to build such a unique centre unknown of in Europe or the US at the time, selected Maks Fabiani, one the finest architects in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to design it.
After it was burnt down, the centre was repaired and turned into Regina Hotel, which was closed soon after WWII and bought by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region to be later given to the University of Trieste.
Although the Slovenian minority had wanted to have National Hall returned ever since the end of WWII, it was not until 2001 that Italy committed to returning it in an umbrella law to safeguard the minority.
The centre, now valued at over nine million euro, should have become available to Slovenian and Italian cultural and scientific organisations within five years since the passage of the law, so the delay prompted the Slovenian and Italian foreign ministers, Karl Erjavec and Angelino Alfano, to sign a deal in 2017 to speed up its renovation and return.
What sparked the attack on National Hall was an incident involving a Yugoslav flag in Split, a port in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where two Italian seamen died a day earlier in a clash with locals.
Thousands of protesters that gathered in Trieste on 13 July demanded revenge for the two victims, urging the authorities to hunt down the "dangerous" Yugoslavs, writes historian Milica Kacin-Wohinz in her book Slovenians in Primorska Region under Italian Occupation in 1918-1921, which is also available in Italian.
An innocent man died at the rally, with the Fascists claiming he had been killed by Slovenians, which fuelled the irate crowd to march towards National Hall.
The centre was closed and guarded by over 400 men, including soldiers, by the time the crowed arrived, as the Italian authorities had anticipated it could become a target of attacks.
When several shots were fired from Balkan Hotel within the centre and two grenades were lobbed from it, the soldiers there to protect National Hall turned the fire towards the hotel, which prompted the protesters to break in, douse the centre with petrol and set it on fire. They also prevented firefighters from putting the fire out, so it was in ruins by the next day.
The arson was followed by the protesters raging around the city attacking several other Slavic institutions, including the office and flat of the representative of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later became known as the Trieste Kristallnacht.
The turmoil worsened the political situation in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, fuelling ethnic hatred, which the Fascists harnessed as they were rising to power. When the Fascist regime came to power in October 1922, ethnic minorities became a target of heavy assimilation pressure.
Slovenians were first deprived of the right to their mother tongue, which was followed by the closure of Slovenians schools and other institutions, by political persecution, confiscation of property and deportations.
This led to young Slovenian patriots getting organised within the TIGR organisation in 1927, around a decade after Trieste as well as a large chunk of lands populated by Slovenians became part of Italy following the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the end of WWI.
When Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rapallo in November 1920 setting the border after WWI, around 500,000 Slovenians and Croats came under Italy.
And although Trieste and a large area populated by Slovenians was also assigned to Italy after WWII, Trieste has remained a political, economic and cultural centre of the Slovenian minority to this day, although relations between the minority and Italy have never been fully tension-free.
It is estimated that some 80,000 ethnic Slovenians live in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, an area where Slovenians have been present from the 13th century according to historical records.
Writer Boris Pahor, at the age of 106 still a vocal advocate of Slovenian minority rights from Trieste, witnessed how National Hall was burnt down.
He told the STA that for him as a seven-year old and for Slovenians in Trieste the arson "meant the end of the world". He described the incident in two of his works, including the 1972 novel Trg Oberdan (Oberdan Square).
Pahor has taken this opportunity to once again urge Italy to publish the 2000 report on Slovenian-Italian relations, which was compiled by historians from both countries. "The report is still locked in Rome, it has never come to schools," said Pahor, who believes there is still a great risk of Fascism reappearing.
STA, 4 June 2020 - The Slovenian minority in Italy see the planned returning of Narodni Dom (National Hall) to the minority on the 100th anniversary of its arson as a symbolic act of reconciliation and a correction of history. Narodni Dom represents the lungs of the Slovenian community, Council of Slovenian Organisations (SSO) head Walter Bandelj has told the STA.
"The restitution of National Hall would be a huge gesture for the minority, a rectification of history," said Bandelj.
He sees the building designed as a Slovenian cultural centre as the "lungs of Slovenian identity", which is why it is important that it is returned to Slovenians. The building is in the centre of Trieste, which highlights the role Slovenians have had in the city, he said.
According to Italian Senator Tatjana Rojc, a member of the Slovenian minority, National Hall was a symbol of the economic and cultural rise of the Slovenian middle class in Trieste.
It was to show that Slovenians are not only the proletariat in Trieste as some still think today, that they are not just port workers, maids and laundresses, but also people who are successful in business and culture, she said.
Igor Gabrovec, an ethic Slovenian who is member of the regional legislative assembly of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy, believes that by building it, Slovenians had proven to Trieste and especially themselves that they were economically and politically successful, "which is why the attack on National Hall was a shot through the heart of the Slovenian community and the idea of pan-Slavic unity".
The restitution of National Hall would be a "symbolic act of reconciliation which we all justifiably expect a hundred years after the arson of this building on 13 July 1920," said Ksenija Dobrila, the head of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Union (SKGZ). "It would be a confirmation that we are full-fledged members of this space."
Italian Ambassador to Slovenia Carlo Campanile agrees that Italy would thus send a future-oriented message. "It will be an invitation to cooperation, a message that we wish to grow and develop together in the spirit of friendship and cooperation while dealing with our common problems and challenges".
Yet whether or not Italy will indeed transfer the ownership of the building to the minority organisations on 13 July, when the presidents of the two countries, Borut Pahor and Sergio Mattarella, are expected to meet to mark the anniversary of the arson, is not certain yet.
The ambassador did not exclude this possibility although noting that the Covid-19 epidemic had affected all proceedings in Italy lately. "Of course this must not be an excuse. It's a path we've started and I hope it will be concluded as soon as possible. There's a will for this to happen on both sides," he said.
Italy committed to returning the building to Slovenians in the 2001 act protecting the Slovenian minority. The law said the building, which was rebuilt between 1988 and 1990, and now houses the headquarters of the college of modern languages for interpreters and translators, part of the University of Trieste, as well as a Slovenian information centre, should be returned within five years.
Since nothing would happen over the next 16 years, the then foreign ministers, Karl Erjavec and Italy's Angelino Alfano, reached an agreement in 2017, reaffirming Italy's commitment and set the end of 2020 as the final deadline for the return.
The process got an additional boost with talks between Pahor and Mattarella, who expressed the wish to meet in Trieste on 13 July and reach an agreement on the restitution.
"A few more steps are needed before minority organisations move to National Hall, but the outlook is very good," assessed Slovenian Consul General in Trieste Vojko Volk.
He sees this as "the biggest event for the Slovenian minority in Italy since independence if not of this century".
Bandelj said the minority was hoping that at least an agreement on ownership would be activated before 13 July, which would say that "we will become owners in two to three years".
He said it was understandable that the University of Trieste needed some time to move its college out the building. A reasonable deadline would be set, he noted.
Bandelj said the minority was financially capable of owning the building. "We have organised to have all institutions that would operate in the building after it is returned to Slovenians pay rent so no extra costs would emerge."
Dobrila stressed an agreement on ownership was important for the organisations to have the freedom to develop the concept of the building, and to restore the "original idea of our ancestors and create heritage for the generations to come".
She envisions the building as a centre of all communities in Trieste, dedicated to art, culture and research.
Both Dobrila and Bandelj deem the planned visit of the two countries' presidents on 13 July a far-sighted sign of peace, harmony and coexistence. A ceremony with 150-200 participants at the opera house, which was planned for the anniversary, was postponed for a year because of coronavirus.
STA, 4 June 2020 - A hundred years ago, the Italian state authorities allowed the torching of Narodni Dom (National Hall) in Trieste by not punishing anybody for the crime and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was too weak to react, historian Borut Klabjan has told the STA. Italian historian Raoul Pupo said investigating the matter did not suit the Fascists.
Before the First World War, Trieste was a global, multicultural, multi-ethnic city that attracted people from all over the world who wanted to benefit from its prosperity and rapid growth, said Klabjan of the Institute for History Studies at the Koper Science and Research Centre.
"Trieste before the First World War was definitely the city with the highest share of Slovenians. Back then, Trieste had 220,000 to 230,000 people, and a quarter, perhaps even a third of them, were Slovenians. Ljubljana had 50,000 people at the time, more than half of them Slovenians. Trieste was in fact the largest Slovenian city."
The war cut into this flourishing city, and when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart, Italy occupied the area. Its plan was homogenisation of the territory and it did not recognise others on it - neither Germans in the north nor Slovenians and Croats in the east.
Tensions built up soon, which led to the arson of the National Hall, a Slovenian commercial and cultural centre, on 13 July 1920.
According to Pupo, the multicultural and cosmopolitan character of Trieste was a heritage of the pre-national period of the city's history in which collective identities were not formed based on people's origin or their mother tongue but based on their faith, loyalty to institutions etc.
But in the second half of the 19th century, a process of parallel competitive nationalisation of language groups, which was typical of the Hapsburg monarchy, started in Trieste as well, undermining the spirit of tolerance.
"National movements have very different sources of inspiration, as the Italian national movement copied the French model of voluntary nation, while the Slovenian national movement followed the example of the German ethicist concept.
"Both shared the desire to have exclusive power over a territory, which should be achieved using any means available," said Pupo, a lecturer at the University in Trieste.
"The arson was not an act by an Italian state institution but the attitude of the state institutions was what had allowed it to happen," said Klabjan, who is working on a monograph about the events that happened on 13 July 1920 together with his colleague Gorazd Bajc.
The attack on National Hall was the first by Fascists, the largest and not nearly the only one. "Given that the reaction of the authorities was such that they blamed Slovenians for provoking Italians, and not reconciling themselves to the fact that the area became Italian, this attitude of the authorities that did not punish anyone for the arson, gave wings to the movement."
In a matter of months, the movement brought together the majority of the extremists who were involved in the arson and the Fascist movement began. After National Hall, they targeted other property of Slovenians and political opponents, especially socialists, communists and republicans, who wanted to stand up to Fascist violence.
The leader of the Fascists was Francesco Giunta, who came to Trieste in the spring of 1920, when the situation was perfect for developing Fascist ideas, a mix of nationalist claims in relation to the then ongoing Paris Peace conference, and political pressure, Klabjan said.
Neither he nor others who took part in the National Hall arson were punished because the authorities found them useful and wanted to use them to crush socialists, communists, Slovenians and Croats.
The young Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians (SHS) also failed to respond, presumably "to keep a low profile in relation to Italy", Klabjan said, noting that he was still investigating this aspect.
The SHS was afraid to anger Italy, with which it needed to reach an agreement on the borders as soon as possible, so "in relation to Italy it was the weaker partner". It did not have a lot of room to manoeuvre either bilaterally or multilaterally.
Evidence suggests the SHS did not respond to the National Hall arson but only to the subsequent attack on an office of a delegation of the SHS.
The latter was also what triggered a reaction from foreign consuls in Trieste. The British, French, Czechoslovak and American consuls thought about taking steps but failed to do so in the end, partly because the SHS did not react.
But documents show that representatives of other countries blamed the Italian authorities for not preventing the havoc in the city, Klabjan said.
Pupo, a member of the Slovenian-Italian historic and cultural commission which drew up a report on the relations between the two nations from the late 19th century until after the Second World War a few years ago, believes nobody was ever punished for National Hall arson because this did not suit the Fascists or state institutions, "which already covered for them".
"It was not good to investigate details which could potentially undermine the official reconstruction of events drawn up by civil commissioner Mosconi.
"There are still so many opaque aspects to the whole incident that many things remain unclear to this day: who stabbed two persons in Piazza Grande, of whom one later died? Who dropped a bomb or bombs? Who shot? Who knows ..."
STA, 28 February 2020 - The arson of the Trieste National Hall (Narodni dom) by the Fascists a century ago marked the start of a painful period for the Slovenian community that ended up on the Italian side of the border. A documentary shedding light on that event and what followed will premiere in Ljubljana tonight.
"It's a painful and often overlooked and too often simplified story about our western border and about Primorska. The arson of National Hall was the start of that cruel story and I dear say the beginning of Fascism in Europe," the author of Arson (Požig) Majda Širca has told the STA in an interview.
The Trieste National Home was built in 1904 to the design of architect Max Fabiani (1865-1962). It was commissioned by the Trieste Savings and Loan Society; as a Slovenian cultural centre, it was home to a theatre, hotel, savings bank, a ballroom, a print shop; most Slovenian associations.
"Trieste at the time of Austria-Hungary was a multi-cultural city in which various nations and cultures lived together. By building the National Hall, Slovenians made it clear they weren't going to build churches like other nations. They decided to build a space of multi-cultural dialogue (...)"
"Slovenians knew they needed a representative, visible and effective place in the middle of Trieste. Slovenians at the time lived on the city's outskirts, in small villages. They were a rural population that supplied Trieste but they didn't have their visible place in the city centre," Širca said.
The project was a thorn in the flesh of bigots who looked down on Slovenians, calling them schiavi (Italian for slaves). After the end of First World War, tensions escalated in Trieste, with a number of rallies held.
On 13 July 1920, one of those rallies escalated into a violent conflict in which shouts were heard that a Slav had killed an Italian. A mass of people then stormed the National Hall and torched it, historian Kaja Širok says in the film. Witnesses say that police and army officers stood by watching.
"That event later went down in history as 'the Slavic Crystal Night'. On that day several stores, print shops and buildings owned or managed by Slovenians were torched," the historian said.
Badly damaged in the fire, the National Hall was rebuilt between 1988 and 1990 and now houses the headquarters of the college of modern languages for interpreters and translators, part of the University of Trieste, as well as a Slovenian information centre.
The Slovenian community has been unsuccessfully trying to get back the building, with their hopes placed in this year's centenary when the presidents of Slovenia and Italy, Borut Pahor and Sergio Mattarella, are expected to meet in Trieste to mark the anniversary.
The film Arson also features excerpts of old comments by Boris Pahor, the 106-year-old Slovenian writer from Trieste who witnessed the National Hall arson and has often spoken out about the issue and has often said that Fascism in Europe started with that arson.
The year the National Hall went up in flames Slovenian territory was subject to barter, Širca says. Under the Treaty of Rapallo, signed in November 1920 by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) and the Kingdom of Italy, a third of Slovenian ethnic territory was awarded to Italy.
Ethnic Slovenians were put under huge pressure, faced assimilation attempts, denial of their language and territory, turbulence which Širca seeks to portray in her documentary, although she believes each of the key events included would merit a film of its own.
The film traces individuals' stories to the Basovizza victims, the Slovenians that were the first victims of fascism in 1930, the Fascist and Nazi occupation, the concentration camps and executions, the 1975 Treaty of Osimo and the establishment of a new border between Slovenia and Italy.
The documentary also touches on the foibe, the Karst pits where the victims of post-WWII reprisals by Yugoslav Communists were thrown.
"If you visit Basovizza, there are two monuments there not far from one another. One is an Italian monument to foibe, where every year the complex and complicated history of this space is sadly drastically simplified and abused, and the other a monument to the Basovizza victims.
"There's 15 years of history between the two, but I believe it always needs to be read in the context of that space. You cannot isolate one event from the other, just like you cannot but link the things together," said Širca, who served as Slovenia culture minister between 2008 and 2011.
She is concerned about what she sees as a dangerous loss of memory in Slovenia and elsewhere: "We know the past is being adapted, history is being horse traded and facts are being dressed in new clothes. Like in the past the new clothes are better worn trendy and we know how hard such simplification of history hits the Slovenian community."
The film, which will premiere at the National Museum of Contemporary History before being shown on TV Slovenija on Sunday night, is her contribution so that younger generations should learn about that difficult and multi-layered history: "If someone drums but one truth into their heads, it sticks. It's what is happening in the world today."
STA, 10 January 2020 - The Supreme Court's controversial annulment of the guilty sentence for a WWII collaborationist general has raised questions about the legal and historical implications of the decision. While the court has ordered a retrial, the most likely outcome seems to be a termination of procedure.
The Supreme Court recently annulled the death sentence of Slovenian general Leon Rupnik (1880-1946), who collaborated with the occupying forces during World War II, on an appeal on a point of law lodged by his relative, and sent the case to the Ljubljana District Court for retrial.
Rupnik was a general in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in WWI and later collaborated with the Fascist Italian and Nazi German occupation forces during World War II. He served as the head of the Provincial Government of the Nazi-occupied Province of Ljubljana in 1943-1945, and was also chief inspector of the Domobranci (Slovene Home Guard), a collaborationist militia.
The Supreme Court's ruling rests on procedural grounds: the court held that the military court's ruling had not been sufficiently reasoned, even under the standards applicable at the time.
The annulment means the case will now be sent into retrial, and Miha Hafner, an associate professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Law, believes it will either be thrown out by the prosecution, or that the court will declare it cannot conduct a retrial since the accused is already dead.
Under the criminal procedure act, courts cannot try dead persons, which means that Rupnik's guilt will not be examined once again, Hafner told the STA.
The end effect of the Supreme Court decision, therefore, is that "since the procedure will be terminated whereas the previous ruling was annulled and the presumption of innocence applies [in Slovenia], Rupnik cannot legally be regarded as guilty of this criminal act," according to Hafner.
Hafner stressed, however, that the decision does not strictly mean Rupnik is rehabilitated. "If the gentleman were still alive, a retrial would start and the court of first instance would carry out the entire procedure."
Another consequence of the ruling may be that Rupnik's heirs may claim the return of property since Rupnik's property was seized by the state after the trial, said Hafner.
The ruling has earned the Supreme Court fierce criticism, in particular from the left, but the court told the STA it had no other choice than to decide on the Rupnik heir's appeal on a point of law.
At the Jewish Cultural Centre in Ljubljana we were shocked and deeply concerned to learn about the decision of the Slovenian Supreme Court to annul the sentence of Leon Rupnik from 30 August 1946, and to return it for retrial.
It is our assessment that we are witnessing the first step in a politically motivated ambition to rehabilitate the criminal collaborationist regime in Slovenia during WWII whose “president” was the aforementioned Leon Rupnik, and who was justly tried and sentenced to death as a war criminal, and whom even the pre-war Yugoslav Royal Government, then in exile, renounced as a traitor.
Rupnik’s police under the leadership of Lovro Hacin, likewise sentenced and executed in 1946 as a war criminal, organised the arrests and deprtations of the remaining Slovenian Jews in Ljubljana and its vicinity in the years 1943 and 1944; very few have survived. The Homeguard (Domobranci) military formations that pledged allegiance to Hitler Rupnik led into a criminal, fratricidal war. The Homeguard also collaborated in the Holocaust against the Jews in the Trieste region under the leadership of the infamous SS officer and war criminal Odilo Globočnik in the years 1944 - 1945.
The Jewish Cultural Cenre Ljubljana will notify the world public about the shameful decision of the Slovenian Supreme Court. We will monitor closely all and any further developments of these contemptible acts of Holocaust denial, revision and perversion of history, and attempts at reviving and justifying the Fascist and Nazi horrors, and oppose them indefatigably.
Robert Waltl, director JCC Ljubljana
You can see videos of Leon Rupnik as the main speaker at a pro-Nazi rally in the centre of Ljubljana, saluting a Nazi flag, below
STA, 9 January 2020 - The Association of WWII Veterans is appalled by the Supreme Court's annulment of the death sentence of Slovenian general Leon Rupnik (1880-1946), saying that numerous documents undoubtedly prove that he actively collaborated with the Fascist Italian and Nazi German occupation forces. Protest has also been expressed by the Social Democrats (SD).
The association promoting the values of the resistance movement in WWI said on Thursday it had received with indignation the report by the newspapers Dnevnik and Večer about the verdict against Rupnik being sent for retrial at the Ljubljana District Court.
Rupnik collaborated with the occupation forces during WWII as he served as the head of government of the Nazi-occupied Province of Ljubljana in 1943-1945, and was also chief inspector of the Domobranci collaborationist militia.
In May 1945, he fled to Austria, where he was arrested by the British and returned to Yugoslavia in early 1946. He was court-martialled and executed for treason and collaboration with the occupiers later that year.
One of his descendants, allegedly a grandson, had filed an appeal on a point of law, arguing that the verdict had not been sufficiently explained, that the reasons conflict each other, that his right to defence was violated, and that judges who had reached the verdict should have been excluded.
The appeal has now been granted by the Supreme Court, the verdict annulled and the case returned to the Ljubljana District Court for retrial.
The Association of WWII Veterans said in its response that Rupnik was also the mayor of Ljubljana under Nazi Germany and that he "led the treasonous fight against his own nation and subjected himself to the ideas of Nazism."
According to its president Marijan Križman, treason cannot be erased even with "bureaucratic pardon of the crimes that the traitors had committed against their own nation."
Court has thus become a tool for those who are not able to get over the shame and pain of treachery and use the judicial system for retaliation and spreading of hatred."
The Social Democrats (SD) said it would never accept "those who preferred collaboration with the occupier to the survival of the nation get acquitted," adding that Rupnik was "loyal to the alliance with the occupier to the last moment."
The party said that "untruthful interpretation of Slovenian history with rehabilitation of collaboration and Fascism" did not lead to reconciliation, but only takes Slovenians further away from dealing with the past.
The Jewish Cultural Centre Ljubljana also responded to the Supreme Court's decision with "indignation and concern", saying that it was the "first step in the politically-motivated aspiration to rehabilitate the criminal collaborationist regime during WWII".
It noted that Rupnik's police, under the leadership of the co-defendant Lovro Hacin, had organised in 1943 and 1944 arrests and deportations of Slovenian Jews from the Province of Ljubljana, with only a handful of them surviving the ordeal.
STA, 8 January - The Supreme Court has annulled the death sentence of Slovenian general Leon Rupnik (1880-1946), who collaborated with the occupying forces during World War II, on an appeal from his relative, and sent the case to the Ljubljana District Court for retrial, the newspapers Dnevnik and Večer reported on Wednesday.
Rupnik was a general in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in WWI and later collaborated with the Fascist Italian and Nazi German occupation forces during World War II.
Wikipedia, CC-by-0
He served as the president of the Provincial Government of the Nazi-occupied Province of Ljubljana in 1943-1945, and was also chief inspector of the Domobranci (Slovene Home Guard), a collaborationist militia.
In May 1945, Rupnik fled to Austria, where he was arrested by the British and returned to Yugoslavia in early 1946. He was court-martialled along with several other people and sentenced to death for treason and collaboration with the occupiers later that year.
Rupnik on stage with fellow Nazis in Ljubljana
The verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Yugoslav Army, and the appeal for clemency was rejected on 2 September 1946.
Rupnik was executed by firing squad in Ljubljana on the same day and buried in Žale Cemetery in an unmarked grave.
One of his descendants, allegedly a grandson, had filed an appeal on a point of law through an attorney, and the appeal has now been granted by the Supreme Court.
The part of the verdict relating to Rupnik has been annulled and the case has been returned to the Ljubljana District Court for retrial.
According to the newspapers, the court says that the verdict was not in compliance with the legal principles at the time, and that not all accusations of the acts he had been sentenced for had been supported with facts and circumstances.
For one of the acts the court has found that it does not bear signs of a criminal act.
Rupnik's relative claimed, among other things, that the verdict had not been sufficiently explained, that the reasons conflict each other, that he was violated his right to defence, and that judges who had reached the verdict should have been excluded.
