The Mass Migrations of Italians from Dalmatia and the Dodecanese

The culturally diversified central and southern east coast of the Adriatic sea is called Dalmazia (Dalmatia). These cultural differences had not been a problem until the region became dependent on Venetia in 1797. In the middle of the 19th century, the slave part of the population started a fierce campaign against the Italian population, with the support of the Austrian authorities. The Italians of the region started to emigrate or to hide their cultural identity. After the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WWI, the Kingdom of Italy attempted to join the eastern coast of the Adriatic due to the Italian ethnicity of the inhabitants, but had to face a heavy opposition from the just-created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) who had the support of the US President Wilson and the French authorities. After some years of international negotiations, the weak Italian government accepted that the entire Dalmazia should belong to Yugoslavia, apart from Zara (Zadar), the capital town of the region. Thousands of Italians fled from the region to preserve their identity. Thousands more decided to stay to avoid losing their properties or jobs. During WWII, Italy occupied a part of Yugoslavia, but Italian forces had to fight against the communist partisans of Tito, who often violently attacked the Italians, both the army and civilians. When they took over power in the region, in late October 1944, a regime of oppression and fear spread there. Hundreds of Italians were arrested and killed without any consideration or lawsuit. The remaining Italians, frightened for their own or their relatives' lives, decided to run away to Italy. A similar situation happened in the northern part of the east Adriatic - Fiume (Rijeka), Pola (Pula), Rovigo (Rovinj), and the Istrian Region. In Italy, the refugees from Dalmazia and Istria set up some organisations to provide both material and moral help and support. The Dodecanese was occupied by Italians in 1911 during the war with Ottomans over Libya. In the following years, thousands of Italians immigrated there to develop the islands. When Italy tried to withdraw from WWII in 1943, Germans occupied the island, keeping Italian soldier in captivity and sending the Jewish population to Nazi death camps. Italian civilians were in a great difficulty until the arrival of the British occupation in 1945. Since the island now belonged to Greece, Italians were forced to move to their homeland by the Greek government.