Slovenia and Croatia MEPs Urge Cancellation of Controversial Foibe Exhibition

Strasbourg: Nine Slovenian and Croatian Socialist Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have called on European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to cancel an exhibition on the Foibe Massacres. This exhibition, opened by Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party at the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, has been labeled as controversial and misleading.

According to Ansa News Agency, the MEPs argue that the exhibition, inaugurated on Foibe Remembrance Day, represents a “complete contempt for the facts.” They claim the information presented offers an untrue and damaging portrayal of the recent history of Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia, particularly during a period marked by immense suffering inflicted by the fascist regime. The Foibe Massacres, committed by Tito’s Partisans against Italians in Istria and Dalmatia around the end of World War II, remain a sensitive and painful historical episode.

The exhibition has sparked outrage due to its depiction of events, suggesting that it undermines the complex historical context and suffering endured. The Foibe were natural sinkholes into which victims were disposed of, sometimes alive. The Basovizza Foiba, a notorious mineshaft, stands as a grim reminder of the atrocities. It is estimated that up to 15,000 Italians, many associated with Fascism, were killed by Yugoslav communists during the last years of the war. The exact number of victims remains unknown, partly due to the destruction of population records by Tito’s forces.

The Foibe Massacres led to a mass exodus of Italians from their homes. The establishment of Foibe Remembrance Day in 2004 by Italy sought to acknowledge a tragedy that had been largely ignored in the postwar years by anti-Fascists. The controversy surrounding the exhibition highlights ongoing tensions and differing narratives about this dark chapter in European history.