If one can argue about which ideological foot the Nutella shoe fits on, it's easy to see that debate may get heated over slightly more serious topics, such as history.

And so, today, the 10th of February, the first national day of memory for the victims of the Foibe is being observed, by most. The Foibe massacres occured between 1943 and 1946, when Yugoslavian forces killed between 10,000 to 20,000 Italian men, women and children in the area surrounding Trieste and Gorizia. They threw the bodies, many still alive, into deep fissures within the Carso mountain range, known in local dialect as Foibe. For years these massacres went unspoken, partly due to an embarassment on the part of the Italian left, and partly due to the exigencies of cold war politics that wished to avoid upsetting the independent communist Yugoslavia.

That the centre-right Government has instituted an official day of memory will straight away draw subconcious parallels with the Holocaust, and the officially sanctioned day of memory on the 27th of January. Just as on that day those with fascist leanings must hang their heads in shame, so today the implication is that hardy old communists must face up to their grisly past. Gianfranco Fini, head of Alleanza Nazionale, welcomed the commemoration, saying "you can't have first and second class tragedies"[1]. A cynic could summon up the ghost of Gaber - the Holocaust is left, the Foibe right*.

It's right and proper that the massacres should come to public attention, and be remembered, but it's unfortunate that the vast majority of quotes are coming from Politicians rather than Historians - and politicians who, one suspects, may not have studied their history in depth.

Historian Raoul Pupo criticises both left and right wing parties for their sudden, convenient interest in the massacres. For years he, and several colleagues, have studied the massacres to general indifference. Now, the story has been rediscovered and packaged as a
simple message. To figures on the left such as Piero Fassino and Walter Veltroni, the Foibe represent a tragic event that must be confronted, thus showing how much the left wing has grown in responsibility and its ability to auto-examine. To figures on the right, such as Berlusconi and his Alleanza Nazionale partners, the Foibe represent 60 years of history, and the Italian left, turning a blind eye to the evil excesses of Communism. To some extent both views are correct. However, as Pupo points out, things are always more complex in History than in Politics.

For example, there's a distinct absence of discussion about the History of Istria prior to the Foibe massacres. Istria is in the far North East of Italy, and at the start of the XXth century formed part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. After the First World War the region was handed over to Italy, but retained a large Slovenian population. During the 1920s, under Mussolini, there was a deliberate process of 'Italianization' in the region, which at times included violence. During the Second World War Yugoslavia was carved up between Italy, Germany, and Croatian fascist forces. That some of the violence in post 1943 Istria was a reaction to this particular history is undoubted.

It's worth quoting Pupo, to gain an insight into the complexity of the History:

There's no doubt that the attacks against the Italians were provoked in part by the infamous behaviour of Fascists in the twentys, and during the occupation after 1941. But also playing a part were the nationalistic antagonism that predated Fascism, the seizure of power on the part of the communists, the creation of a Stalinist regime, the politics of power in the new Yugoslavia under Tito. A reality then much more complex than that which left-leaning historiography, until now, has outlined. Today it serves us all to rediscover the facts, precisely to defend ourselves from the political use of this History, undertaken in the main by the right.[2]

Better that they (Politicians) spend their energy arguing about the ideology of dessert spreads, and leave the History to those willing to study from all angles.

* It would be unfair to suggest that the right in general have not commemorated the Holocaust - this year in particular with both Berlusconi and Fini speaking out strongly against the Italian racial laws of 1938/39.
[1]Quoted from RAI via SBS
[2] Raul Pupo in interview - La Repubblica 10th February