Historical Entry on Trieste: The Foibe Massacres

The Foibe are a Carsic landform in which some land made of calcium carbonate is eroded while the rock around it is not. This creates the crevices known as the Foibe. These crevices are found, amongst other places, on the Carsic plateau. The Foibe were used since ancient times as dumps and garbage and other unwanted objects were thrown in them. The Foibe became a serious issue only in 1945, during Tito's forty days in Trieste. The Yugoslavians were furious at the Italians and Germans because they had massacred several thousands of Yugoslavian civilians only because they pertained to the Slav race. So, they decided to revenge and started to kill any Italians who were suspected of being pro-fascist regime, however, several innocent people were killed. The Yugoslavians had to get rid of the bodies, so they decided to throw the carcasses into the Foibe. The Yugoslavians were rather amused and started to organize many killings at the Foibe. They would shoot people so when they were shot they would fall into the crevices, but they enjoyed particularly to tie several people together in a line and shoot the first person so he would fall into the crevices and carry the others with him still alive. It is estimated that up to 6,000 people were killed in this way in the Carsic plateau only but the number increases throughout the rest of Yugoslavia, however information are controversial. The killings stopped when the Allies entered Trieste and the Yugoslavians retreated. This event should make us reflect about the futile cruelty of some human beings and should convince us to try to avoid that similar massacres happen again.

P.S: This information was collected by interviewing some Triestine people who were present at the times of these massacres.