Emigration of Italians and Germans from Croatia during and immediately after the Second World War

Croatia is a country of constant emigration which, with varying intensities, has lasted from the nineteenth century to the present. According to some estimates, during the period in which reliable statistical records have been kept, i.e. since 1880 up to 1991, approximately 1.2 million people have emigrated from the territory of today's Republic of Croatia, mostly Croats. Among the periods of more intense emigration from Croatia, the 1943-1948 period is particularly significant, for during these five years, over 250,000 people emigrated from Croatia, most of them Italians and Germans. This is the largest exodus of non-Croatian inhabitants from the territory of the Republic of Croatia. Relatively little has been written about this emigration of Italians and Germans, and this is thus the subject of this paper. The paper is limited to a review of the origins, subsequent immigration, spatial distribution and emigration of Italians and Germans based exclusively on data from population censuses.