crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

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Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes 2.4. The press When Fascists came in power, physical attacks on Slovene printing houses, censorship, confiscation of Slovene newspapers, fabricated indictments and show trials were joined by persecution based on legal norms. The Act No. 3288 of 15 July 1923 stipulated that editors-in-chief had to be approved by prefects. The latter had the right to revoke their approval after they had issued a second warning in the same year, which in practice meant that they possessed the power to suppress the newspaper as they were not obliged to deliver a favourable opinion on a new editor-in-chief. 2122 The Order No. 1062 of 19 October 1923 issued by the Udine prefect required that since 21 October all foreign language newspapers published in the Udine region were obliged to translate all headlines and articles into Italian, with translations being published in the same font. Soon afterwards (i.e. on 22 October and 23 October respectively), the Trieste and Pula prefects issued similar orders. 2223 The increasing limits imposed on the Slovene press were further strengthened by the Act No. 2307 of 31 December, 1925 stipulating that the owner and director of a newspaper were obliged to settle all fines and administrative costs arising from violations of publishing rules, with their printing machines and materials and other property serving as their guarantee. With the situation becoming more and more intolerable, the majority of Slovene newspaper houses had to close down, while some transferred their 23 24 operation across the border to Yugoslavia as that was the only way of preserving it. The remaining Slovene press was suppressed when the Royal Decree No. 384 of 26 February, 1928 came into force, stipulating that all editors-in-chief had to be entered in a special official register of journalists and publicists. The registration was the prerequisite for occupying the position of director or editor-in-chief. No Slovene could meet that requirement as the applications were viewed by the Fascist trade union that turned down all Slovene applicants. 4 September and 17 November 1928 thus brought the ban on publishing Edinost and Goriška straža respectively. By January 1929, the Fascists managed to suppress all Slovene and Croatian periodicals, and in 1930 they also wiped out the Catholic press. 2425 Gorizia was the only town in Venezia Giulia where it was still possible to publish certain Slovene books with Italian covers. In April 1934, the Minister of the Interior issued an order imposing preventive censorship on non-periodicals. In accordance with it and another order of 28 December the printer and the publisher had to submit several copies to the prefect and could not start selling them without his written approval. As a result, many Slovene and Croatian books were confiscated. 2526 2.5. Violence and policing arrangements Fascism brought about an increase in repression and physical violence. In March 1923, the Blackshirts were replaced by the Voluntary Militia for National Security (Milizia volontaria per la sicurezza nazionale – MVSN), which was in 1928 incorporated in the Fascist army. The MVSN squads were best organized in Venezia Giulia. 26 27 Their most notorious act of violence was committed on December 27, 1936, when they forced the Slovene conductor and composer Lojze Bratuž, who had taught children to sing Slovene songs, to drink motor oil combined with petrol; he died on 16 February 1937. In 1926, the Fascists established OVRA – special secret Fascist police for repression of anti- Fascism. The Fascist regime engaged police, intelligence and security services in its anti-Slovene campaign. Legislation enabled it to persecute and imprison political adversaries on the basis of no evidence, merely “out of suspicion”. The Public Security Act of 1926 namely allowed the Fascists to administer “preventive” punishment to or to carry out police measures against individuals who opposed the regime even if they possessed no concrete evidence of their guilt. The following measures could be taken: 1) diffida = warning (the aim of which was to warn an individual to stop pursuing certain behaviour or action); 2) ammonizione = admonition (which followed “diffida” and indicated that the individual was not allowed to leave his home without notifying the police nor was he allowed to frequent public places, such as bars, and had to observe the curfew from sunset till dawn); 3) confino = 21 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/3 and Področja/13; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., p. 127. 22 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/2 and Področja/13; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 126–127. 23 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/4 and Področja/13; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 127–128. 24 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/13 and Področja/13; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 98, 132–133. 25 Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 140–142; NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/15 and Področja/14. 26 Kacin Wohinz, Prvi antifašizem, op. cit., p. 115. 128
Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes confinement (deportation to islands or other solitary places under police surveillance). Such preventive punishment was administered to many Slovenes suspected of action against the regime. 2728 The acts of 1926 governing national security introduced the death penalty for opponents of the regime. Thus the Act No. 2008 of 25 November 1926 established the Special Court for State Protection (Tribunale speciale per la difesa dello Stato) in charge of trials against defendants accused of crimes against the state. The Court operated until the fall of Fascism when it was abolished by the new Italian Prime Minister Pietro Badoglio (dependent on the Anglo-Americans) with the Government Decree of 29 July 1943. The Court processed 167 cases against 800 anti-Fascists from Venezia Gulia, of which 544 were of Slovene or Croatian nationality: 476 were sentenced and 68 released. It administered 47 death penalties, with 36 defendants being Slovene or Croats. Out of them, 26 people were shot: 22 Slovenes and 4 Croats. 4 death penalties were changed to life imprisonment, 6 to death penalty in absence. During the trials, 3 defendants committed suicide and 3 went insane. The two largest and most notorious trials against Slovenes were the first (the first part took place between 1–5 September 1930 in Trieste, and the second between 4–5 December 1931 in Rome) and the second (2–14 December 1941 in Trieste) Trieste trials. 2829 2.6. Slovene in public use, place and personal names On the basis of the Royal Decree No. 440 of 18 February 1923, many Slovene and Croatian employees were dismissed for not providing a sufficient guarantee that they would loyally perform their work. Naturally, the evaluation of loyalty was in the hands of their superiors. The Royal Decree No. 1921 of 14 September 1923 included similar provisions. The Act No. 2300 of 24 December 1924 provided for the dismissal of every official or civil servant who had not acted in accordance with the political will of the government or offered a sufficient political guarantee or whose children attended Slovene schools or universities in Yugoslavia. It was enough to give a Slavic name to your newborn baby to be dismissed. Many Slovenes occupying civil servant positions in Primorska and Istria were thus dismissed, retired or transferred to Italy. 2930 The Royal Decree No. 1921 of 1923 provided the legal basis for the dismissal of judges who were not fluent in Italian, while the Royal Decree No. 1796 of 15 October 1925 ultimately prohibited the 3031 use of Slovene and Croatian in all courts of law. 3132 The Act No. 337 of 4 February 1926 and its amendments of 25 June (Act No. 1262) enabled the Fascists to carry out most drastic measures at the local level as it annulled the autonomy of municipalities with a population lower than 5,000 people. In accordance with the Royal Decree No. 1910 of 3 September 1926, its provisions also applied to all municipalities that were not run by elected mayors but by the so-called podestas, i.e. municipality chief officers appointed by the government who were no longer accountable to the municipality inhabitants but to the local prefect instead. Podestas were usually Fascists or in rare cases Slovenes who accepted the new regime. In line with the new act of March 1934 governing municipalities and regions, the prefect also appointed the municipal council. In 1926, the Fascist government adopted an act on regions stipulating that regional councillors and president were no longer elected by the people, but were appointed by the government on the suggestion of the Minister of the Interior. Fascism also annulled the last form of autonomy that remained to the Slovene and Croatian communities: it prohibited the use of Slovene and Croatian in municipal premises and allowed only the employment of Italian municipal staff. The Act No. 1019 of 1928 excluded all Slovene and Croatian MPs from the list of candidates for civil service. 3233 On 1 December 1922, the Prefect of Venezia Giulia decreed that all inscriptions, bills, price lists and the like in bars and restaurants had to be bilingual, with the Italian text being written first. On December 26, the Prefecture issued a decree regarding street signs and inscriptions on all municipal premises and institutions. The Royal Decree No. 352 of 11 February 1923 imposed a four times higher tax on all public inscriptions in a non-Italian language. The Royal Decree No. 1035 of 14 November 1931 stipulated that the tax be five times higher. 3334 27 Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 242, 281–289; NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/10. 28 Enciklopedija Slovenije, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 1987–2002, no. 9, p. 159. 29 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/3, 4, 6 and Področja/9; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 93, 94. 30 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/3. 31 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/5, 6 and Področja/6, 7; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., p. 83. 32 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/6, 7, 13 and Področja/1, 2; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 41–45. 33 NŠK OZE, HI/Z, Seznam/1, 2, 14 and Področja/7, 8; Čermelj, Slovenci, op. cit., pp. 88, 89. 129
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CRIMES COMMITTED BY TOTALITARIAN RE
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IV. REMEMBRANCE, RECOGNITION AND PU
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