crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
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2.1. Schooling3
Among the most evident Fascist legal measures against the Slovenes was gradual abolition of the
use of Slovene in primary schools. The Royal Decree No. 2185 of 1 October 1923 legalized (Giovanni
Gentile’s) school reform, which brought the modernization of the out-of-date system of primary
education to Italy, and the abolition of schools using a non-Italian language as the language of instruction
to national minorities. On the basis of the reform, the decree stipulated that since the 1923–24 school
year classes in the first grade of all primary schools would be taught in Italian only. In the next year, the
decree also applied to the second grade and so on, so that eventually at the end of the 1928–29 school
year the Slovene and Croatian languages were no longer used in primary schools, while the only private
Slovene school in Trieste was closed down at the beginning of the 1930–31 school year in accordance
with another royal decree. The only non-Italian primary school in Venezia Giulia that continued to hold
classes in the pupils’ mother tongue was the one run by the Serbian Orthodox congregation. Gentile’s
reform closed down as many as 444 Slovene schools attended by 50,000 pupils. 34
Needless to say, it also came as a terrible blow to Slovene teachers from the Primorska region,
forcing almost 1,200 teachers to stop teaching at more than 300 schools. Some were transferred to
schools in inland Italy, while the majority emigrated to Yugoslavia. Some 200 were even persecuted by
the police. 45 In addition to Gentile’s reform, one should also mention the Legislative Order No. 2300 of 24
December 1924 that provided for the dismissal of teachers who had not behaved in accordance with
the government’s political instructions. Not surprisingly, the order could be interpreted in an almost
arbitrary manner. Finally, the Primary School Act No. 577 of 5 February 1928 confirmed that Italy was
home to only one nation speaking only one language. Slovene secondary schools suffered the same fate
as their primary counterparts partly owing to Gentile’s reform and partly to some other local decrees. 56
In 1926, the king disbanded the Association of Slovene Teachers. The Act No. 2247 of 3 April 1926
established a special organization for education of young people, in accordance with which the upbringing
of children was not in the hands of the parents, but primarily the state. As a result, children were enrolled
in Fascist youth organizations (Balilla, Piccole italiane, Avanguardisti, Giovani italiane, Giovani fascisti,
etc.), while schools introduced introductory military education. 6 7
The act also prohibited the circulation of
Slovene books and the schooling of children abroad, prescribing severe punishment for the offenders. 78
The Higher Education Act No. 1592 of 31 August 1937 hindered secondary school graduates who
completed their secondary education in Yugoslavia from enrolling at Italian universities. 89
Until 1927, Slovene priests were still allowed to hold Sunday school (reduced to an hour per week)
in Slovene. In 1928, the Italian Ministry of Education however demanded that Sunday school be only in
Italian. With religious teaching being held in schools, Slovene and Croatian priests decided to transfer
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it into churches. 1011
According to the estimation by Lavo Čermelj, the abovementioned measures robbed more
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than 100,000 Slovene and Croatian children in Venezia Giulia of the possibility of attending classes in
their mother tongue.
2.2. Associations
Fascist pressure gradually brought thriving Slovene community life to a standstill (in the beginning
of 1924, Slovenes still had around 400 societies and associations). In 1924, the Udine Prefecture
2
In addition to the aforementioned bibliography, also see the following publications: Drago Pahor, “Pregled razvoja osnovnega šolstva na
zahodnem robu slovenskega ozemlja”, in: Osnovna šola na Slovenskem 1869–1969, Slovenski šolski muzej, Ljubljana 1970, pp. 235–
337; Adriano Andri, Giulio Mellinato, Scuola e confine, IRSML–FVG, Trieste 1994, pp. 129–135, 183–206.
3
NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/2 in Področja/3; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., p. 50.
4
Minka Lavrenčič Pahor, Primorski učitelji, 1914–1941, NŠK OZE, Trst 1994.
5
Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 52–56; NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/6, 13 and Področja/3.
6
NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/6, 15, 17 and Področja/3, 5; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 70–75.
7
Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., p. 60; NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Področja/3.
8
NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/18.
9
Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., p. 57.
10
More details in: Egon Pelikan, Tajno delovanje primorske duhovščine pod fašizmom, Ljubljana, Nova revija, 2002.
11
Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., p. 60.
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