ArTS Archivio della ricerca di Trieste

ArTS è il sistema di gestione integrata dei dati della ricerca adottato dall' Università degli Studi di Trieste

The exodus from Zone B of the FTT should be viewed in the context of the wider phenomenon of the exodus of the population of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia. First then the article briefly describes the essential characteristics of the phenomenon of migration, starting from the evolution of the term "exodus" itself. At first this was a militant expression, used to emphasize the uniqueness of that historic experience, but gradually it turned into a general interpretative category, used by historians to refer to a special type of forced relocation taking place in Europe since the mid-800, different from deportation and expulsions. The essay goes on to analyze the main forces that generated the exodus of almost all of the Italian population from the territories transferred after World War II under the control of Yugoslavia. The first was the revolution, at once political, social and national and its impact on society of Istria. Special attention is devoted to the policy of the "Slavic‑Italian brotherhood" as a strategy of selective integration, as well as to the operations undertaken by the "people’s authorities": in fact, the combination of the structural limitations of the policy of "brotherhood" and its failure, created an unbearable situation for Italians. Therefore, the exercise of option rights became for them the only possible way out of the crisis. The hardness of living conditions - material and political - that existed in Istria forced also the exodus of part of the population of native Slovenian and Croatian, especially in rural areas. Similar processes also took place in Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste, even though there these processes lasted until as late as 1954 due to the uncertainty with regard to which state this territory would belong to. The author focuses mostly on the relations between the Italian population and the new authorities and touches upon certain topics of the most recent research. He also brings the attention to the still unfinished research with regard to the National Liberation Committee for Istria and radio station Radio Venezia Giulia. In both cases, the new acquisitions were made possible by the finding of significant archival collections. Finally he also focuses on the final stage of the Trieste question, concluded with the signature of the London Memorandum and followed by the emigration of almost all of the Italian population from Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste and settlement of exiles in the Trieste territory.