Study visit in Trieste and Koper: Between memory and oblivion
A study visit in Trieste and Koper, as part of the project “Between Memory and Oblivion” (BMO), took place between the 14th and the 17th of October 2022. Τhe main organizing partners on site were Documenta (Croatia), Associazione 4704 (Italy) and APIS Institute (Slovenia).
In the afternoon of the first day, the participants met in the Union of Slovenian Cultural association in the center of Trieste, where they assisted to the lectures of Martina Budin (SKGZ – Slovenian Cultural and Economic Union in Italy), and Dr. Borut Klabjan (Science and Research Centre Koper).
The next morning, the participants did a walking tour around the city center of Trieste, guided by Dr. Štefan Čok (Associazione 4704). The tour ended at the “Cells of Ispettorato di pubblica sicurezza”, where Franco Ceccotti (ANPI-VZPI Trieste), shared the history of the place and the struggle to have it remembered. In the afternoon, the group visited the memorial site of Basovizza and Opicina, dedicated to the Slovenians anti-fascists executed in 1930 and during WWII. Dr. Štefan Čok and Dušan Kalc (ANPI-VZPI Trieste), introduced the participants to the historical context.
In the morning of the third day, the group left Trieste to cross the border and reach the Slovenian city of Koper. There, the participants followed lectures by prof. phd Neža Čebron Lipovec and Assoc. prof. Katja Hrobat Virloget (University of Primorska) about the development of the city of Koper and the case of the Italian “exodus”. The day continued with a musical program, with Marino Kranjac and a spontaneous local choir. In the afternoon, the group moved to Marezige, where Salvator Žitko, historian and publicist, introduced the participants to the location. Then, the choirs Coro Sociale from Trieste and Kombinat from Slovenia sang together anti-fascist songs in Italian and Slovenian. The last song they jointly performed was “Ustajenje Primorske”, the unofficial anthem of the people of the Primorska region that was conducted in 1941 by Lev Svetek Zovin.
On the final day, the participants attended the round table “As stone and bone: architectural heritage and the example of the memorial in Kampor on the island of Rab” in the Slovenian national contact point of the program CERV in Koper. The main topic of discussion was the memorial site in the location of the former Italian fascist concentration camp in Rab.
The program included lectures, city-walks, visits to important landmarks for both the Italian and Slovene communities, a musical program, and joined commemoration, aimed to set a proper ground for dialogue on issues that are always found in the contested ideological territory, between memory and oblivion.
The activity was organized as part of the project “Between Memory and Oblivion”, financed by the European Union, through the program CERV.
