The Repatriation of Italian Prisoners of War from Yugoslavia after the Second World War (1945-7)

Despite the issue of Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War receiving some significant attention, the fate of those prisoners held by the Yugoslav state has not yet been thoroughly examined. This is largely a consequence of the lack of sources, which is also why this issue has been treated superficially in the literature. The present article aims to fill this gap, focusing in particular on the repatriation of Italian prisoners of war held in Yugoslavia after the Second World War. Employing material from archives in the UK, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland, the author will reconstruct the process of repatriation by delving into international diplomatic circumstances and Italo-Yugoslav relations, as well as the political and ideological dynamics which affected the fate of those prisoners. The study will also provide a count of the number of Italian prisoners of war in Yugoslavia, which up to this point has been unclear.