Review article
The migrations of the italian population the territory of Croatia during World War Two and in the after – war period
Marica Karakaš Obradov
; Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The first migrations of Italians in the eastern Adriatic coast are linked to the April 1941 War, when numerous Italian population from Dalmatia briefly left the cities of Zadar, Split, Makarska and Dubrovnik, and was evacuated by sea to the western Adriatic coast. For the same military and safety-security reasons, as well as for the reasons of campaign, the population of Rijeka was also evacuated during the month of April 1941. Considering the short duration of the conflict, the population returned by 10 May 1941. A considerable migration wave of the Italian population started in the summer of 1943 as a result of Mussolini’s downfall, strong activity of Anglo-American air forces and the invasion of Partisan units that had for a short time made use of the military downfall of the Kingdom of Italy. As of July 1943, from Dalmatia – in particular from Zadar, where the majority of Dalmatian Italians had lived, but also from Istria, mostly persons employed in the administrative and military services of the Kingdom of Italy left, among them many “regnicolis”, newly arrived population from Italy, who had immigrated between the two World Wars. The leadership of Yugoslavia considered – in the concluding months of war – the idea of realising the emigration of the population that had after 1918 been settled in those areas, which were the subject of the territorial conflict with Italy, and of those persons, who had not been nationals of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy before 1918. After the war had ended and until the peace contract with Italy was signed in 1947, the emigration of the Italians continued – first from Rijeka, and then from Istria, especially Pula. The peace contract with Italy was concluded in February 1947. In December 1947, the Regulations regarding the optants from areas annexed to the Federative National Republic (FNR) of Yugoslavia were passed. The peace contract foresaw that the people living in annexed areas were to become full-fledged nationals of Yugoslavia, losing thereby Italian nationality; the option of choosing Italian nationality was additionally foreseen. FNR Yugoslavia and Italy settled the options issue by mutual consent as early as during the 1950s, so that the last wave of mass emigrations of the Italian population from Istria was concluded in 1956. A minor number of emigrations was realised pursuant to the 1964 Yugoslav Nationality Act. There were disputes about the exact number of Italians who had left the Yugoslav/Croatian/Slovene areas. Newer studies conducted by all interested parties approximately agree around the total of 3,000,000 emigrations, not only among the Italians, but also among the Croats and the Slovenes who had left – to the most extent – the areas of Istria and Dalmatia.
Keywords
Italians; World War Two; Croatia; Istria; Dalmatia; migrations; immigrants; optants; refugees
Hrčak ID:
112427
URI
Publication date:
17.12.2013.
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