Discussions on Slovenian Men in the Italian Armed Forces during the Fascist Period: Between ignoring and considering

• Published in: Kronika (Ljubljana) 2024-12, Vol.72 (3), p.579-594
• Main Author: Uršič, Irena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0023-4923; 2670-6865
• DOI: 10.56420/kronika.72.3.12

During the interwar period and the Second World War, Slovenian conscripts in the Italian Armed Forces, who were drafted into regular military service and mobilized under the Fascist regime, formed a group with the longest collective experience of performing military service in a state that was not their homeland. The first part of the article focuses on their postwar situation and discussions in the literature and the second part highlights the contribution made by the National Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia, thanks to which Italian soldiers of Slovenian descent were recognized in 2007 as a group deserving an expert, museological discussion. In the many years’ field work, their testimonies and personal estates became part of two museum collections as well as the basis for exhibiting, publishing research findings, and producing radio broadcasts. Slovenci v italijanskih oboroženih silah v obdobju fašizma, vpoklicani na služenje vojaškega roka in mobilizirani, so bili med svetovnima vojnama in med drugo svetovno vojno skupina z najdaljšo kolektivno izkušnjo vojaškega služenja državi, ki ni bila njihova domovina. Članek se v prvem delu osredotoča na njihov povojni položaj ter na obravnave v literaturi. V drugem delu je izpostavljen prispevek Muzeja novejše in sodobne zgodovine Slovenije, v katerem so bili leta 2007 pripadniki italijanskih oboroženih sil slovenskega rodu prepoznani kot skupina, vredna strokovne, muzeološke obravnave. V času dolgoletnega terenskega dela so njihova pričevanja in osebne zapuščine postale del dveh muzejskih zbirk ter temelj razstavljanja, objavljanja izsledkov raziskovalnega dela in ustvarjanja radijskih oddaj.