FAMILIES AND MEMORIES OF ITALIAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN YUGOSLAVIA AFTER WORLD WAR II

Project Information

IT-POW FAMILIES

Grant agreement ID: 839474

DOI

10.3030/839474

Project closed

EC signature date 9 April 2019

Start date 1 May 2020

End date 29 April 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 473,28

EU contribution

€ 183 473,28

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IT-POW FAMILIES (FAMILIES AND MEMORIES OF ITALIAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN YUGOSLAVIA AFTER WORLD WAR II)

Reporting period: 2020-05-01 to 2022-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

IT-POW FAMILIES is focused on the experience and memory of the families of Italian POWs held in Yugoslavia after WWII. The main goal was to study, understand and communicate the history of POWs through family stories, using the paradigm of microhistory, the methodology of oral history and the tools of public history, and to effectively promote the outcomes among the non-academic society. The personal experience of POW families and the persistence and transmission of trauma through generations have not been studied up to now, thus the project went beyond the state-of-the-art by giving voice to people that are not directly involved in war operations, but suffered the consequences. The aim was to raise European awareness of how WWII had a big influence on the lives of people also years after the end of the war and, in this way, increase the understanding of the situation Europe is facing today (the refugee crisis etc.).
The action was successfully concluded, fully achieving all training and scientific objectives. During the action, 5 scientific articles and 1 scientific monograph (all open access) have been published. The project has undoubtedly had a significant impact on society as well, what is particularly evident from the first feedbacks on the final exhibition Memorie liberate / Osvobojeni spomini / Unchained Memories. People's impressions are very positive, as for the first time the exhibition sheds light on stories and the past that have been silenced and forgotten for many years at the expense of some major events in history. The impact and importance for society is reflected in the great interest for the exhibition, which will be exhibited in at least three more locations (Treviso, Koper, Maribor).
As one of the long-term achievements, the project has created a transnational – Italo-Slovenian – research community, which established the basis for long-term cooperation in the field of research based on oral sources and ego-documents. In 2021, the Laboratory of Ego-Documents (EgodocLab) was established at the Department for Humanities at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, followed by the establishment of the Centre for Oral History at the Institute IRRIS for Research, Development and Strategies of Society, Culture and Environment in Čentur (Slovenia) in 2023.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project IT-POW FAMILIES has started on May 1st, 2020. The beginning of the project was affected by the Covid-19 pandemics. However, this situation did not have any particular negative impact on the project progress itself. In the first months, a project facebook profile was launched (MSC project ITPOW Families), where all the information regarding the project funding and progress, as well as all the project activities, outcomes etc. are regularly shared. The profile follows the project steps, keeping the broader public updated not only on the project itself, but also the issues related to war, social, gender and family history.
During the project duration, I have successfully conducted interviews with 11 testimonies, while I interviewed some of the individuals on more than one occasion. In addition, due to the distance or the situation (the covid-19 epidemic), I successfully conducted some of the interviews online as well. I have also researched and analyzed numerous archival sources from various relevant archives.
The action was successfully concluded, fully achieving all training and scientific objectives. During the action, 5 scientific articles and 1 scientific monograph (all open access) have been published.
In 2022, as one of the project deliverables, the Italo-Slovenian methodological conference Learning from mistakes. Difficulties, complications, second thoughts in oral history was held in Venice and Treviso. As a result of the project, I have edited one issue of the open access high-impact scientific journal Acta Histriae discussing methodology and mistakes in oral history.
During the project, I have participated at several dissemination events and took part at numerous conferences and workshops, discussing the project topics and ongoing research. Furthermore, I have also been transferring the gained knowledge to students, especially at the University of Maribor. A final trilingual interactive exhibition Memorie liberate / Osvobojeni spomini / Unchained memories was inaugurated on April 2024 in Venice, San Sebastiano. After a very successful inauguration, the exhibition is so far already booked for 3 future locations (Treviso, Koper, Maribor) in 2025.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

If there have been substantial research on several relations regarding POWs captivity during WWII, the issue of the Italian POWs, kept by the Yugoslav authorities, remained under researched, while the experience of their relatives was still neglected. IT-POW FAMILIES successfully filled this gap. The issue of Italian POWs in Yugoslavia was not merely a problem of approximately 50.000 prisoners, but of at least twice this number of people, since each of those prisoners had probably had at least one family member waiting their repatriation. Their personal experience, the persistence of trauma and transmission of memory through generations, has not been studied before, thus the project efficiently gave voice to the people that were not directly involved in war operations, but suffered the consequences.
During the project, collected archival sources have been successfully analyzed and interpreted. They helped shape the historical background of the treated topics. Furthermore, 11 oral testimonies and further auto-biographical sources and egodocuments have been collected and analyzed. In addition to scientific results (a monograph, scientific articles etc.), what is particularly important is that the research has created an archive of oral testimonies, which is significant in itself, as very little research of this kind exists. The archive will therefore be available to other future researchers.
What is particularly noteworthy is that the project also goes beyond the state of the art in the way it communicates with the general public, which is very important in this context and provides a significant contribution beyond the scientific community. The trilingual (IT, SLO, ENG) historical audio-visual exhibition, along with the historical context and an overview of the problem, includes an introductory video podcast and 5 audio podcasts, which were produced and compiled using fragments of interviews. In this way, the exhibition encourages people to think and opens up discussions, which are much needed, especially in the Italo-Slovenian borderland.

Inauguration Memorie liberate, Left: Alessandro Casellato, Right: prof. Costantino di Sante

Taking part at the AISO online seminar FARE STORIA ORALE A DISTANZA (E IN EMERGENZA)

EgodocLab excursion to San Servolo, Venice

Italo-Slovenian methodological conference Learning from mistakes, Treviso, 2022

Inauguration Memorie liberate / Osvobojeni spomini / Unchained memorie, Venice, 2024

Following the study course Storia orale (Oral History), held by Alessandro Casellato

Facebook cover page of MSC project ITPOW Families

Interview held online

Fieldwork - Borovnica, interviews in the surroundings of the former POW camp