The Basovizza monument: Constructing memory and identity

Louise Zamparutti

doi:10.2478/rsc-2019-0013

Abstract

Abstract The Foiba di Basovizza monument in northeast Italy commemorates victims of mass killings instigated by communist partisans at the end of World War II. These killings are known as “foibe” in the Italian literature. This word has come to signify the “ethnic cleansing” of Italians by Yugoslavians, despite evidence indicating that the majority of victims of these killings were from Slovenia and Croatia and that the killings were politically motivated. The Foiba di Basovizza was designated a national monument in Italy in 2007 and the narrative of “ethnic cleansing” it presents has been accepted throughout Italy as a legitimate version of history. Nationalistic comments made by European Parliament president Antonio Tajani at the monument’s annual commemoration on 10 February 2019, however, sparked international outcry and revealed that the site is still a vortex for longstanding discursive battles over territorial rights and victimhood contests. This paper argues that the Basovizza monument outmaneuvers questions of historical and scientific accuracy by constructing an exclusive notion of Italian identity that galvanizes nationalism and fuels fear of foreign infiltration. My analysis is a case study that investigates how productions of public memory can be used politically to influence the formation of national, ethnic, and cultural identity.

Highlights

The Foiba di Basovizza monument in northeast Italy, which stands about three kilometers from the Slovenian border, commemorates victims of mass killings instigated by Tito’s communist partisans at the end of World War II. These killings are known as “foibe” in the Italian literature, a word that has come to signify the “ethnic cleansing” of Italians by Yugoslavians, despite evidence indicating that the majority of victims of these killings were from Slovenia and Croatia and that the killings were politically motivated
Their research, and continuing research by scholars at the Study Centre for National Reconciliation in Ljubljana, is informed by ongoing discoveries and excavations of caves in Slovenia that began in the early 2000s, in which remains are analyzed according to established scientific methods
This type of scientific research has not been conducted in Italy, yet foibe commemorative artifacts and events in Italy far outnumber those in Slovenia

Summary

Introduction

The Foiba di Basovizza monument in northeast Italy, which stands about three kilometers from the Slovenian border, commemorates victims of mass killings instigated by Tito’s communist partisans at the end of World War II. This gives the word “foibe” a highly emotional metaphorical significance by referring to horrific physical burial but by suggesting burial of Italian identity. The Basovizza monument’s massive concrete slab, towering cross, and memorial stones bestow a sense of timelessness and claim this contested location, characterized by intermingling populations, shifts in borders, and changes in nationhood, as the site of purely Italian memory It marks the past in a way that ensures a future in which Italian identity is defined through this narrative of victimhood and sacrifice

Rhetorical Strategies

Conclusion