In a letter to Conte, Di Maio and Fedriga, the mayor of Gorizia hopes "that the truth can finally be known"  

The news of the discovery of new sinkholes in Slovenia, containing hundreds of bodies killed by Tito's troops after the war ended in 1945, including people from Gorizia, is being followed with great interest by the mayor of Gorizia, Rodolfo Ziberna, who for decades, together with the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia and the Committee of relatives of those deported to Yugoslavia, has been waging an uninterrupted battle to find out the truth about the sinkholes that occurred after the war. "But, above all," he points out, "we ask to know the places where so many of these people were massacred in order to recover their remains and finally be able to put a flower on their grave. Many families in Gorizia have been affected by those episodes that saw over 650 people, most of them civilians, being taken from their homes and then deported to Yugoslavia. Very few returned. All the others were never seen again. Despite the heavy blanket of silence that has characterized this stain of history for too long, some steps forward have been made and some bodies have been recovered but many are still missing. But the descendants of their families have not forgotten and continue to make their voices heard so that definitive clarity is finally made and all the foibe are "opened" that, for decades, have "hidden" from the world the horror of what happened in those terrible days".

So, in light of the latest findings, the mayor took up pen and paper and wrote to the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, the Minister of Defense, Luigi Di Maio and the governor of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, asking to set up a mixed Italian-Slovenian group "that will try to discover which and how many Italians, mainly from Venezia Giulia, were thrown into sinkholes across the border".

“I seem to perceive a new climate of collaboration – underlines Ziberna – considering that the president of the Slovenian State Commission for the identification of mass graves, Jože Dežman, has assured the willingness of Slovenian institutions to collaborate with Italy in this research and, therefore, it would be very serious not to take advantage of this willingness expressed, which in my opinion should also be sought from the Croatian government”.

According to the mayor of Gorizia, "it really seems like the time has come to literally uncover those tombs that have remained deliberately closed for too long, even denied by some, and to give burial to those poor victims, guilty only of being Italian. I am sorry that so many people who, over time, fought for the truth, I think of one among all, Clara Morassi Stanta, are no longer with us today. But there are still children, grandchildren and those who, albeit in different ways, suffered the consequences of Tito's fury. For this reason - concludes the mayor - we will continue until even the remains of the last Gorizian are found. And, I truly hope, that no one will dare to deny the reality of the foibe".

Patricia Arctic
Communications office 

TEXT OF THE LETTER SENT BY MAYOR ZIBERNA

 Dear Presidents, Dear Ministers,

the recent confirmations of what was already partly known about the foibe and mass graves where thousands of people, both Italian and Slovenian, were thrown (mostly after the war ended!) by Marshal Tito, have now found a new willingness to investigate further also on the part of the Slovenian authorities.

I believe that the time is ripe to create a mixed Italian-Slovenian group that seeks to discover which and how many Italians, mainly from Venezia Giulia, were thrown into sinkholes across the border. And in this working group I ask you to also include a representative of the Municipality of Gorizia, which at the end of the war saw over 650 fellow citizens taken from their families, whose only “fault” was that they could represent an obstacle to the realization of Tito's annexationist ambitions.

In fact, the recovery and cataloguing operations of the remains of the victims from the Zalesnika sinkhole, near Ternova della Selva, in the Slovenian area of ​​Gorizia, have recently been concluded. This sinkhole, already known and long explored by researchers and speleologists coordinated by Jože Dežman, president of the Slovenian State Commission for the identification of mass graves, has brought to light the remains of Italian and Slovenian sinkhole victims, the first ones taken from Gorizia and its surroundings in May 1945, during the 42 days of occupation of the city by Tito's partisans. This news is in addition to the even more chilling one, made public on 24 August in a press conference by the same Slovenian State Commission, according to which a new natural cavity containing remains of sinkhole victims has been discovered in the area of ​​Kočevski Rog.

Speleologists in charge identified the remains of approximately 250 victims, almost all civilians with an average age of twenty.

The exiles from the lands of Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia had to wait until the third millennium for our country to recognise the tragedy of the exodus and the foibe as the history of our country and not just of a portion of it, also thanks to the approval by almost all of Parliament of the law establishing the Day of Remembrance, law no. 92 of 30.03.2004, which is celebrated every February 10.

Marshal Tito, as is known, used the instrument of the foiba to start a real ethnic cleansing to make the so-called ethnically homogeneous Abandoned lands by over 300 thousand Italians. But he also used it to eliminate opponents of his regime against his own citizens and his Slovenian friends, united in the same tragedy, paid a heavy price.

The citizens of Gorizia – but I feel like speaking, as a son of exiles, also on behalf of the other citizens of Venezia Giulia – do not ask for trials but only to know the place where they can bring a flower to the mortal remains of their loved one. There are many foibe in Slovenia.

The president of the Slovenian State Commission for the identification of mass graves, Jože Dežman, assured the willingness of Slovenian institutions to cooperate with Italy in this research. It would be very serious indeed not to take advantage of this willingness, which in my opinion should also be sought from the Croatian government.

Of course, in sharing these feelings and expectations, I thank you for your attention and for the actions you will want to implement.

The Mayor
Rodolfo Ziberna