“I return here today with a few more wrinkles and with responsibilities on my shoulders that as a girl I never imagined I would one day have. And I return to make a solemn commitment: that is, to do my part so that that witness of memory that you, with your tenacity and your courage, your pride, have allowed to be handed over to us is passed on to our children; so that our children in turn pass it on to our grandchildren so that the memory of what happened, in defiance of those who would have wanted to hide it forever, never fades”: the Prime Minister says this solemnly Giorgia Meloni from the Foiba of Basovizzaon the Karst, his “heart place”, as he defines it on the occasion of the Remembrance Day for Istrian and Dalmatian victims killed or exiled by the Tito communist persecution.
“I came here many times, as a girl, when to do so meant being pointed at, accused, isolated. And I returned as an adult to finally celebrate that day of remembrance that swept away once and for all conspiracy of silence which for unforgivable decades had enveloped the tragedy of the foibe and the drama of the exodus in the oblivion of indifference” adds Giorgia Meloni. And she continues: “I have come several times in my life, here in Basovizza, to pay homage to this shrine and every time I left with something more in my heart, it is a place of the heart who always gives something precious, an image, an emotion, a story to tell.”
“We are here at ask for forgiveness again on behalf of the institutions of this Republic for the guilty silence which for decades has surrounded the events of our eastern border and to pay homage to all the Istrians, the Julian-Dalmatians who, to remain Italian, decided to leave everything, houses, goods, land, to remain with the only thing that the Tito communists they couldn’t take away their identity” continues Giorgia Meloni in her speech. “One of the fathers of our nation, Giuseppe Mazzinihe said that the homeland is the family of the heart; then you who defended and built that homeland are our family. You are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, grandparents, uncles, cousins and your memories are our memories, Land your tears are our tears, your stories are our stories”.
“To the victims of the Foibe and all the exiles, Italians twice, by birth and by choice. Thank you. Italy honors your sacrifice” she, the Prime Minister, engraves on the attendance album after visiting the documentation center of the Basovizza National Monument. “Swear and will make you swear on this homeland that you will always, everywhere and first of all, be Italians”.