Istrian emigration meets the museum: encouraging dialogue and understanding between ideologies LI D I jA N I kO č EV I ć
Introduction1 When mentioning Istria one has to keep in mind that this region is profoundly shaped by displacement throughout the 20th century. Therefore, to discuss Istrian emigration is to discuss in a great deal the Istrian history in the last century in general. The leading regionalist party in Istria today is stressing the idea of multiculturalism as one of the most important characteristics of the social culture in Istria. However, the quality of different nations and ethnic groups of the Istrian peninsula living together has varied and differed throughout centuries and in specific situations and places. Seen today as a quality that is a symbol of tolerance, multiculturalism (together with nationalistic ideologies that were tied to nations that have lived in Istria) was in the biggest part of the 20th century a reason for nationalistic struggles between two major groups of population – the Italian and Slavic which encompassed both Croatians and Slovenians (whose ethnic space is northern Istria) who were living in Istria. Italians were literate, urban; in most of the cases they were better off and they had developed different institutions – in short, they were the upper layer of society up until the end of the Second World War. In the same period, Croatians and Slovenians were mostly illiterate, rural, rather poor and lacking institutions. Since Austrian times (when Istria was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) the animosities between these two groups were not exaggerated and/or kept under control thanks to the political compromises made by the Monarchy’s politicians, that time has often – even today – been recalled by most Istrians as a time of relative harmonious relations among all groups of the population. — 1. This article is based on a talk presented at the Irish Museums Association Annual Conference, Museums & Memory: Challenging Histories on 22nd February 2014, Waterford.
The History of Istria Besides the multicultural situation, the fact that Istria belonged to five different states (Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Italy, Germany, yugoslavia and Croatia) in the last century made it difficult for the
Istrian emigration meets the museum: encouraging dialogue and understanding between ideologies
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